Islay Energy Trust

Fuel bills are rising and set to rise again this winter. Heating our homes is becoming more expensive, and it is becoming more important that we stay up to date with deals and offers to keep our costs down.

Whoever your current electricity supplier is, you can almost certainly save money by switching if you haven’t already done so. Switching suppliers sounds complicated but it really isn’t – I’ve just done it and it was very easy to set up (although I’ve yet to receive my first bill from my new supplier or the final bill from the old one so I’ll keep you posted.) If all goes according to plan, by switching supplier and signing up to online billing with a monthly fixed payment, I’ll save a whopping 29% on next year’s electricity.

The easiest way to switch is by using a price comparison website – there are several of these, USwitch  being the best known. I also found  Energy Choices very user friendly, but  for those who do not have access to the internet ,  Simply Switch offers an excellent telephone switching helpline  – 0800 011 1395. Whichever method you use, all you need is your postcode and an idea of your monthly or annual electricity spend. It’s worth looking out your last few bills to get a reasonably accurate figure for this as the tariff you pay will depend on your usage.  Before you call or go online, you should also think about how you’d like to pay and whether you’d like to receive paper bills or are happy to be billed online. The cheapest deals available are for online billing and fixed monthly direct debit payment, as these cost less for suppliers to administer. If you want to continue to pay a quarterly paper bill then that will cost slightly more, but if you don’t have internet access at home you can still make a reduction by signing up to monthly payments.

Once you’ve decided to make the change and supplied your details, your new supplier will take over without any further action from you. You don’t need to contact your old supplier as that will be done for you, and they will send you a final bill –it’s worth checking your meter reading on the date the switch is to happen just so you can check this is accurate.

Many people are entitled to cheaper electricity without realising it – all energy providers must by law offer a social tariff to what are termed ‘vulnerable’ customers, and this must be equal  to or cheaper than the provider’s cheapest deal.  To qualify, customers generally need to be in receipt of either means tested benefits, Disability Living Allowance or pension credits but this varies from supplier to supplier. Those living in fuel poverty (defined as spending 10% or more of household income on fuel) also qualify. If you fall into one of these categories it’s well worth calling your supplier to ask if you qualify for their social tariff. Information on these tariffs is hard to find on suppliers’ websites, but the helplines do seem to be manned by helpful and well-informed staff. Scottish and Southern appear to offer most, with a 20% discount on costs, regardless of payment methods.

Many people opt to use prepayment meters, but you should think carefully before making this choice. Suppliers need to recover the cost of administering this system and you will typically pay up to a third more for your electricity than if you have a normal account. The exception to this is Scottish Power, which is the only firm to set its prepayment meters at a lower cost than standard. If you are with another supplier, on a low income and a prepayment meter is your only option, think about switching.

bye bye standby

We all have them – little lights around the house telling us that our appliances are ready and waiting for us to need them again. Collectively, these appliances are costing customers in the UK an estimated £1 billion per year, and are thought to be responsible for up to 800,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions. It is a bizarre fact that this is roughly equivalent to the emissions from flying the entire population of Glasgow to New York and back. So why don’t we switch things off? Lots of reasons – for one thing, crawling around the floor pulling out plugs at night takes too long. We might not be sure whether our mobile phone is fully charged – so let’s leave it on overnight just in case. Or we just don’t think it’s worth it – surely that little red light isn’t using much power? The little red light is only part of the story however – what we often don’t realise is that the light is just an indicator of the slow trickle of power which is being drawn by the appliance to keep the electronics ready to switch on immediately.
One easy way to deal with the standby problem is to buy a device which will switch them off for you with one click. In the Islay Energy Trust office we use the Bye Bye Standby – this comes as a pack with two special sockets and a wireless wall switch. All our computers, printers etc are plugged into these using a multi-socket adapter, and the switch is stuck to the wall beside the door (sticky patch included!) It took about 5 minutes to set up, and now the last person to leave can switch everything off at once. The pack costs about £30 from most electrical retailers and you can buy extra sockets separately.
This works equally well at home with the TV and DVD… but not, supposedly with your Sky box. These seem to be in league of their own in needing to be left on standby permanently – Sky very cleverly describe the standby setting as the ‘green’ setting. There are approximately 8 million Sky boxes in the country, supposedly consuming enough electricity while on standby to keep a small power station in business. When I called the Sky helpline to ask about this I was told that this was to ensure that the box could receive software updates overnight, and that switching it off regularly could result in the box not working correctly. However a second adviser told me that there was no reason the box couldn’t be switched off as updates are received through the phone line and can be processed when the box is next switched on. Not being a Sky engineer, I don’t know who was right – but I know of at least one person who switches off their box at night without any problem so I will give it a try too and keep you posted…..
By 2010, all new appliances will be required to have a standby power consumption of between 1 -2 watts, with a further reduction to 1 watt or less by 2013. Unless we’re going to buy all new appliances however, we still need to think about switching off – the standby consumption needs of present day appliances are up to 10 times that.
All our electricity monitors are currently out on loan but some are due back very soon, so if you would like to borrow one, please get in touch and I’ll add you to the list. The latest interesting thing mine has shown is that my computer draws more power with the screensaver on than when I’m actually working on it. There was I thinking the screensaver was an energy saving device – wrong again!

If you are trying to cut your electricity bills or worrying about reducing your carbon footprint then it is essential to have an idea of where and how you are using electricity. Islay Energy Trust’s Carbon Savings Project has a number of OWL electricity monitors which can be borrowed for up to a month at a time – this ingenious little gadget just clips onto your electricity meter and gives you a minute by minute account of how much electricity you are using and also a measure of the resulting greenhouse gas emissions. It helps to identify power-hungry devices, and to alert you to appliances left on unnecessarily – and is the best excuse I’ve found yet for not ironing.

If you’d like to borrow one please contact Lindy on (01496) 301413 or call in at the IET office in Main Street, Bowmore. Supplies are limited so get in quick to avoid the queue! All we ask in return is that you complete a short feedback form at the end of the month to give us an idea of any energy saving measures you’ve adopted as a result.

You should also contact Lindy if you are interested in completing a Home Energy Check form – this will generate a personalised energy report for your home, detailing ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency. Again, we’d then be interested to know which measures you have adopted – and everyone completing a form can also collect a free pack of low energy light bulbs.