To ask what you think of the government's new energy saving campaign?

[Tulipomania]

Launched today.

helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/energy-saving-advice/

I already do most of these but may be some useful advice in there for some people. Good to see the costs and savings broken down. Shame they didn't launch it before the recent cold snap which is just coming to an end!

Is that the one featuring Grant Schapps?; Not seen it on TV yet

Its all stuff the energy companies have been telling us to do for ages!
helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/energy-saving-advice/

Think it’s aimed at the financially comfortable tbh. For example, the millions in poverty won’t be ‘saving money’ by turning the heat down to 18C because they aren’t even heating their homes to 18C!

It's a bit late to the party.
It doesn't really tell people anything they don't already know.
It's of little help to anyone who cannot even afford to turn their boiler on never mind just turn it down.
It's of little help to the many who have spent the last few weeks wrapped in blankets in damp cold homes.

Everyone I know is avoiding heating as much as possible. Nobody is sat in balmy 18° luxury all day. I wfh and its all oodies and hot water bottles in meetings now.

It also depends on the house. I turned ours down to 18 degrees when you were out today. Got home and the house felt absolutely freezing so had to turn it up to 20! Luckily our house is small but I don't want to be freezing my bits off!

That's not at all helpful.

I've had it set at 16, 17 when needed longer or when extremely cold. Off or much lower the rest of the time. Not in financial dire straits either, but still quite worried about energy bills.

18 C isn't a luxury. It's the minimum recommended to avoid negative health effects. Poor heating (/poor insulation/poor energy inefficiency) is one reason why the UK generally has higher excess winter deaths than a lot of European countries.

Yes, 18C isn’t a luxury, however most people can’t afford 18C especially those in poverty. That’s one of the reasons why I think the cost saving Gov webpage is aimed at the financially comfortable- as in those who have little to no real concern about bills/money but might want to Cosplay at fuel poverty.

It’s the same where they start listing very expensive things like “install solar panels” and “get a heat pump”.

I am always massively disappointed in these super groundbreaking campaigns because I get excited about savings and then realise I do all that shite anyway and always did without thinking it will save money.😫

I wouldn't say "most people can't afford to heat to 18c". Many, but contrary to mn and certain newspapers it is not most.

@Pothoswithasparkle
Same here. It’s all things I do already.
Im not sure on fuel poverty rates, I know they are much worse than last year but it takes awhile for the data to be published. So we will have to see who has closest estimate.

Yup.

Well I am sure it will not be over 50%. Being pedantic

The problem for Mumsnet is is populated with wash everything towels bedding etc after one use and love In shorrts and t shirts and has a predominantly middle class leaning

They don't understand how many are struggling and living on very cold conditions compared to them turning their hearing down to 18.

A lot of the mumsnet crowd are incredibly wasteful of energy and should be charged as much due to them being so wasteful.

What a load of shite.

Close tou curtains in the evening and use the tumble drier less.

We dont even have a tumble drier. And what idiot doesnt close the curtains or blinds at night?

I think what's important to remember about it is how little it has to change in order to be cost neutral. Because of the government's price cap on energy every KWh you use costs the government because they're subsidizing you. The "simple, obvious" advice only needs to get a small percentage of people to lower their usage very slightly to save more than the campaign costs.

I think its a crock of shit. They know most people already do this stuff.

What they want is to be seen to be "doing something" then they get blame us for not doing enough when it goes "tits up" instead of being a damn government and doing more to help instead of pocketing cash and helping the rich.

Exactly like they did with Covid when we were all being naughty and not following the rules so it was our fault it spread

Well I've not seen the campaign but I was gobsmacked at the number of people who don't understand their energy bills or what is ramping up the useage.
Sitting with all the lights of while the immersion heater is left running.
Having no idea of how many KWh they are using or having sole focus on the direct debit and not whether it based on actual meter readings or estimates.
The cheap prices were allowing some people to be quite clueless about this.

There have been some staggeringly high bills posted on here but some pretty mammoth useage as well.

I suspect those at the bottom don't need telling as they are already very aware of useage. There will be a chunk in the middle hit with rising mortgages and a very large quarterly bill if they've not already started this (and posts here indicate they do exist!)

People living on the edge won’t have the heating on at all and will already know how to try and reduce usage.

so it’s patronising but makes the government feel better about “helping”. It’s in the same vein as 30p Lee.

Better if the government actually used the power it has to make sure we had decent living wages, instead of standing back claiming that they can’t. Which is bullshit.

I find it patronising too. They could help like you say but they won’t instead they tell us what to do.
Bit like with covid how we couldn’t socialise but they were having cheese and wine parties ……
What are they doing now, advising us on energy saving and probably having a No10 tumble drier and all the lights on party just because they can who knows

Indeed! and they claim to be the anti-nanny state party but they’re the worst for it.

I have to admit that I was incredibly surprised by how many people didn't know basics about bills. And some if the usage is like 5 my households😱

I have a prepayment meter switched my thermostat down to 15 and have used £45 in a week so definitely not going to save anything at 18

Well, likewise I am sure over half will have their heating set below 18C for most of the day.

Have you seen the reports coming in from the warm spaces? They are packed to the gills in most places. Which means people are coming in from mostly unheated homes. Lots of people.

18 : look at the anxiety ridden MNers fretting about doing the right thing. Being told that 18 is cold enough is something they need to hear. Also, that below 18 can create its own health problems.

There will be people who need all these messages from a govt campaign to do their own best.

I turned my combi water flow temperature down as per recommendation and the sodding thing has not been right since.

I've got a gas engineer coming out to look at it tomorrow so I've neither saved any energy, as I had to turn it back up to get a bit of heat and I've not saved any money given that it will cost me for engineer's visit.

My room thermostat refuses to go above 17.5.