Beat The Increases In Energy Costs

The UK is going to see an ever increasing reliance on imported energy in the coming years which means it will become more susceptible to world prices for gas and oil. The knock-on effect for consumers is an overall increase in prices for heating and electricity and even more volatility than has been seen in recent years (or are most of the price changes upwards?). The reason for increased reliance on imports is a reduction in current generating capacity with the closure of old nuclear and coal power stations, a reduction in gas reserves in the North Sea and an insatiable appetite for power from an increasing population. 

So how can consumers minimise the increases? 

Green Deal

We could look at the Green Deal and take out a loan on our property and hope that it will pay for itself, hope, because there is no guarantee. I wrote about The Green Deal Joke when it was announced as there is so much that makes it to be extremely wary of. If you need a loan to make energy efficiency improvements it's probably cheaper to go to a bank.

Switch Suppliers

All suppliers are doing their best to tempt us with offers so check around and if you can take the risk of the switch not going wrong then it might be worth it. At the end of the day though all suppliers have to go to the same market to buy their energy, they are just the middle-men.

Use Less Energy

Look around your home and switch off at the sockets electrical devices that aren't in use. Never leave phone chargers plugged in. Turn TVs off and not on standby. Turn your heating down a degree or two. Put an extra layer of clothing when it is cold. If you can't do these 5 simple things you have no right to complain about increased energy costs.

Energy costs will be going up in the coming years, it's been on the cards for ages, but we don't have to sit back and take it. We can all be more proactive about how we deal with it.

The Green Deal Joke

The UK government has announced the details of the long awaited Green Deal. Despite it being on the cards for years it appears that the mandarins in Whitehall have, as many suspect, got no idea of how the marketplace works and even less idea of what is and isn't affordable. Let's look at some of the ludicrous elements of the 'deal':

• The loan which can be up to 25 years stays with the property and not with the person who takes out the loan - what sense is there in this? Who in there right mind would bother looking at a house that had such a loan attached to it? It would be in addition to any mortgage they would need to buy it. Utter madness. This will make such houses unsellable - hardly useful for getting the property market going again.
• Interest rates that are higher than can be obtained on the high street make no sense at all even if you wanted to take out such a loan. There are no incentives whatsoever to take out such a loan if you are able to get one from a reputable lender. Of course, if you have trouble getting a loan then this monopoly offering will cost you dear.
• "Approved Green Deal Installers" will advise on what needs to be done to improve insulation etc. after an assessor (independent?) has visited people's homes. So the more that gets recommended to be done the more work the installers get and the more homeowners have to pay out at an over-inflated interest rate for up to 25 years? Not sure about Green Deal, seems more like the Greed Deal for everyone apart from homeowners.
• Oh yes, it's worth mentioning that there's no guarantee that you'll make savings in your heating bills equivalent to the loan you took out. And, if you did take out a loan and wanted to pay it off sooner than the 25 years - you would be charged for the privilege of that too.

Avoid the Green Deal, it makes no sense at all. I wonder how much money the government has wasted dreaming up such a crackpot scheme? Maybe I don't want to no the answer to that.