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!

It's pretty basic but there really are people who don't know this stuff. My ex used to open all the curtains before he went to bed because "it saved doing it in the morning".

And it can't do any harm. Plenty of people won't know they can turn down their boiler.

It is old news. The same information was being bandied around at the end of the 1980s.

The boiler flow thing was definitely news to me.

You don't spend enough time here then !

rowthe well off people who aren't overlooked probably don't close their curtains when it gets dark. It's common sense for the vast majority of us to do it automatically because we don't want everyone looking in.

I think it's cheeky AF!

Yes, sixth winter here and never had it above 17, it's now at 13.

People need to realise that this isn’t aimed at saving anyone money. This is because they’re worried that the country doesn’t have access to enough power and they’re going to have to start rolling blackouts. As such they’re trying to get everyone to reduce usage.

I remember posts saying why hasn’t the government given advice, how can they cancel a campaign etc

Anyway if it helps people fine, if it’s not helpful then stick to what you know

Are they giving different advice for the elderly? My DGM would need the sitting room at 21 (usually it's at 22 but she could actually use her electric throw) but my 16 year old DS is sitting here in a t-shirt and barefoot at 13.

Rubbish and out of touch like everything else this government do.

I dont mind it as not everyone does those things, but i think a section on 'what your landlord should do' or how to ask the landlord to upgrade the property a bi because only the free, low cost options are sensible for people who might have to leave after 6 months.

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.

I agree. Personally, I think one of the most useful things the government could do is a campaign to simply explain how to read your metre, how to find your tariff and how to use that data to calculate your bills. i.e. how to really understand what energy you are using and what it costs you now and is likely to cost you in the future.

All this 'save up to £70 by doing xyz' is too vague to be meaningful, imo. And it leaves too many people still at the mercy of hoping what they are doing i enough and then getting surprise bills.

People saying the advice is patronising are part for the problem. It's the same with any advice - eat better, cook cheaply, walk more, don't buy tat, learn to spell, understand math - all "patronising" - yet no-one who hasn't understood these things will ever improve their lot. (And my parents came from dirt poor immigrant stock -learning these things was their way to survive - and ultimately get free of that trap.)

And the damage that's done generally - to the environment, the economy, the health service - whatever - gets worse.

On another thread posters bemoaning lack of life skills to the extent they’d replace another subject. I wouldn’t do that but a campaign which is just information is also complained about

Well said!! It's crazy isn't it? What they think we are doing?!!

Our house rarely got up to 11'C these past 2 weeks and that was with £12 or more / A DAY of gas central heating on!! (Boiler is new and good - it's just a old cold house that's already a D in EPC)

I'd love to have my house at 18'C - that'd be toasty warm.

tbh I find the accounts of people not being able to heat their home to a comfortable level really sad.
I really hope that thst can be solved.

we moved to 'forrin' a few years ago and here we have a very similar tv public service campain.
difference here is that tennants have a lot more rights and one of those is to have good insulation and having an efficient heating system.

building regulations for newbuild homes and full renovations are almost at passive house standard.

there has to be a political will to establish good standards and to enforce against rogue landlords.

There is nowhere on the link I posted to the government advice that tells people to turn down their thermostats to 18C.

Those people thinking the government shouldn't bother - I guess you agreed with Liz Truss then? As she decided to axe the energy-saving advice campaign.

Here again is the link: helpforhouseholds.campaign.gov.uk/energy-saving-advice/

The advice that something saves me 40 quid a year is very useful given that annual bill is higher by £1500. Very useful. I don't even know what to do with this 40 quid. I'd probably start stuffing my pillows with all the extra cash. Thanks to the advice that I can cook nutritious meal for 45p, I already bought 6 bed house. Mortgage free.

Yes there is,..second item
”Turning down radiators in rooms you aren’t using or use less could save you up to £70 a year

When you’re not using rooms, turn radiator valves down to between 2.5 and 3 (roughly 18°C). While you are using a room, increase the temperature to a comfortable level by turning the valve up. Turning off radiators completely in rooms you are not using is less energy efficient as this means your boiler has to work harder to increase the temperature again than if kept at a low setting.

People over 65, children under 5 and those with pre-existing health conditions are more vulnerable to cold temperatures. Make sure you are warm enough and have a minimum indoor temperature of 18°C to ensure you protect your health while maintaining comfort.”

I don't think that's quite the same thing - people are implying it's about the main central heating thermostat. Pointing out that you can also control individual radiator and room temperatures - and what the numbers equate to in temperature terms (I never knew this) I think is potentially quite useful.

But we can agree to differ!

Turn the heating down to 18c? Hahahaha! What I wouldn’t give to be sitting in a balmy 18c! I can’t afford to heat my house over 15c and I’m worried even that’s costing me too much. And the radiators aren’t just turned down - they’re OFF in two of the bedrooms and the living room! We can’t afford to heat downstairs to a bearable temperature so we turn the heating on just until the littlest bedroom gets warm then we all sit in there! We have a massive tv downstairs but it’s too cold to sit down there and watch it, so we’re all squashed in one bedroom watching Netflix on our phones. Honestly the government is so far out of touch it’s laughable.

Our house was 8.5C when we woke up yesterday. That’s due to weeks of chronic under-heating. We put the heating on for four hours yesterday and got it up to 13C. 18C is halcyon.