Are there affordable ways to cut your heating bill?

Image source, Emily Hughes

The heating system was one of the first things that needed to be fixed when Emily Hughes moved in to her new house.

She says the bills were mounting quickly with an aging boiler.

She decided to install a whole new heating system. The house had solar panels and an air source heat pump. The heat pump and panels work together with a passive heating system that stores heat in the summer and releases it in the winter.

Ms Hughes says her heat pump and solar panels make her less vulnerable to energy bill price shocks.

We would like a battery storage facility to store some of the solar energy for use in the night, but at the moment the cost and limited supply of batteries are proving to be issues.

According to government data, 85% of UK homes use mains gas for heat, leaving them at the mercy of volatile international gas markets which dictate pricing.

Around 22 million people are set to see their energy bills rise by around 700 to 2000 dollars per year because of the energy price cap being raised.

According to the Office for Budget Responsibility, this year will be the largest fall in living standards since records began.

Image source, christina chelmick

Gas prices have been volatile. Five years ago, Alison Reddihough stopped using oil for her heating.

Ms Reddihough says that oil prices move quickly, as much as 30p per liter within a week or two. Buying at the wrong time can be costly.

Ms Reddihough has a large garden that is large enough to install a ground source heat pump. She thinks it has reduced the cost of heating her home.

A heat pump uses technology similar to your fridge to take heat from the air outside or in the ground and transfer it to your house. Sales of heat pumps are expected to triple this year compared with 2020.

They are not the answer to the budgetary problem because they are still very expensive to install.

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An air source heat pump can cost between $8,000 and 18,000, and a ground source heat pump can cost between 20,000 and 350,000. That is less than the cost of a typical gas boiler.

It could take up to 48 years for an air source heat pump to pay for itself. As electricity bills rise, the cost of installation will be clawed back faster, giving more incentive to make the change.

The government is offering 5,000 grants to 90,000 households to help with the cost of an air source heat pump.

The cost of electricity and gas is going up due to the fact that more than half of the UK's electricity comes from gas fired power stations. According to the Energy Saving Trust, the average domestic solar photovoltaic (PV) system costs around 6,500 to install and could save people who work from home up to 400 per year.

Image source, Ashden

For many, such systems are beyond their means.

For families struggling to pay their fuel bills, many of these measures are out of reach.

The least well-off will be hardest hit by rising fuel bills. Fuel poverty, when a household falls below the official poverty line due to spending most of their income on heating their home, is expected to rise dramatically this year.

The number of households in fuel poverty is expected to surpass six million in April and could reach over 8 million by the end of the year when the price cap is raised again.

Improving insulation could be another way to save money. The average British home is not very energy efficient.

We need to tackle energy loss from millions of properties before we upgrade heating. Ms Lamb says that there is no point in pumping warmth into homes if it disappears through broken windows and paper-thin walls.

The annual energy bill increase represents a sixth of a wealthier household's income compared to 12% for a low-income household, according to Ms Lamb.

The 15.3 million least efficient homes could be upgraded to energy performance certificate band C, which could save households an average of 510 dollars per year and cut gas use by 20%.

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Ms Lamb would like to see measures that could help the most vulnerable in society, such as fitting new walls, doors and windows to whole blocks of housing.

In Cornwall, one company has engineered a system that allows heat pumps in multiple homes to share one underground water source, boosting efficiency and lowering costs.

Ms Hughes is looking forward to getting a payment for the excess electricity she sells back to the grid.

She says that the electricity cost is a worry and that the solar panels are helping to take the sting out of what would be a big increase in our living costs.