Citizen Advice Bureau's Big Energy Week

Date: 17/1/2012

This week sees the launch of the Citizen's Advice Bureau's ‘Big Energy Week' aimed at helping consumers who are struggling with rising energy bills. It's an excellent initiative and I'm right behind it!

Energy prices

It's been unseasonably warm recently, but the cold snap over the last few days has probably had us all reaching to turn up the heating dial. Despite the big energy companies also announcing this week that they were dropping the electricity and gas prices, energy bills are still high for most families so the advice from Big Energy Week is most welcome!

What can you do?

Citizens Advice, Chief Executive, Gillian Guy has said that 43% of people are worried they can't afford their next fuel bill and one in two say energy bills will put a strain on their finances this year.

Big Energy Week is helping people save money on their bills by encouraging them to do a number of things like:

• checking they are on the best tariff and payment plan -direct debit is on average £100 cheaper per year than paying by cash or cheque,
• shopping around, making sure you have the proper insulation at home,

• and using less energy.

Switching to low energy light bulbs

Using less energy could save money. Simply turn off lights when you leave the room, change old incandescent light bulbs to efficient low-energy light bulbs and switch appliances off at the wall.

The Energy Saving Trust says that fitting just one low-energy light bulb can save an average of £3 a year - and swapping all the inefficient bulbs in your home for energy-saving alternatives could save around £55 per year. And, amazingly, turning your thermostat down by 1°C could cut your heating bill by £60.

You can find more out on the website or via the Citizen's Advice Twitter or Facebook page. I'd also suggest looking at the Which? website as it's full of helpful info.

 Comments (0)