The last 18 months have seen a perfect storm in the energy market which has resulted in a genuine energy crisis, the like of which most people in this country have never encountered before. It started during the COVID pandemic when the majority of the UK population were directed to remain at home. This resulted in fewer cars on the road and combined with the heatwave experienced at the start of the pandemic, a reduction in the need to run heating. This reduction in oil and gas use meant that energy companies adjusted their stock requirements accordingly and then struggled to adjust the supply to meet the demand once life started to get back to normal.
As we moved into autumn, renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar proved to be less effective than anticipated and when the winter arrived and people began heating their homes again, many energy companies could no longer afford to supply the necessary energy for the prices that they were charging which resulted in a huge number of firms collapsing at the same time with their customers being redistributed between those companies remaining.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine then threatened supplies further and drove a significant increase in costs causing the UK’s energy regulator, OFGEM, to reassess the energy cap rate every 3 months instead of every 6. This allows energy suppliers to adjust their energy prices more regularly to reduce the likelihood of any more energy companies collapsing.
What Will Happen Next?
It has been announced that the price cap will rise by a staggering 80% on the 1st October 2022 which will have a significant impact on over 24 million people in the UK. Reports that people will be choosing between heating and eating are not overstated with National Energy Action forecasting that a record 8.9 million households will be in fuel poverty this winter.
How Can we Help?
Next Energy are authorised installers for the UK Government’s Energy Companies Obligation Phase 4 (Eco4) scheme and we want to help you to reduce the impact of this crisis by installing additional insulation in your home at no cost to you. A well-insulated home will cost less to heat, saving you money on your energy bills and also improving your health. We can support eligible homeowners, private tenants and social housing tenants to apply for the energy grants which are widely available to people who are on low incomes or receiving various benefits and whose properties score D to G on their energy efficiency (EPC) rating.
If your property is already well insulated and scores a C or above on its EPC rating, there are other energy grants available for which you may be eligible, such as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme which offers homeowners looking to upgrade from oil or gas heating up to £5000 to purchase and install a new air source heat pump or biomass boiler or up to £6000 off the purchase price and installation cost of a ground source heat pump.
Liverpool Homeowners
For those homeowners living in the Liverpool region of the UK, we are also working with the Liverpool City Local Authority to deliver Phase 2 of the Local Authority Delivery Scheme which aims to provide a range of insulation options, smart heating controls and low carbon heating to properties with an EPC rating of D to G, whose occupiers earn less than £30,000 per annum or who are in receipt of certain benefits, including universal credit. This grant entitles eligible applicants to either a 100% grant or a subsidy of up to £10,000 (£5,000 for private and social housing landlords) to conduct work which will result in lower carbon emissions from the property. These measures will not only lower carbon emissions but as a knock-on effect, will reduce energy use and hence save people money on their monthly bills.
What We Want To Do
As a company, we wish that there was more that we could do to reduce the cost of energy to help you in this energy crisis. We are committed to taking proactive measures to ensure that as many people as possible who are eligible for an energy grant are able to have the necessary work carried out before winter and are always happy to advise consumers on ways in which they can make small changes to reduce their heating costs. To discuss eligibility for a grant, please apply for your grant today.
