With winter on the way and home energy bills remaining high, it's a good time to consider your property's energy efficiency, what you can do to improve it and how to reduce your energy consumption at home.
It can feel overwhelming and for anyone struggling to make a start, the Warm and Well service provides free energy efficiency advice and useful tips to help households across Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire make energy savings and lower their monthly bills.
Run by Severn Wye Energy Agency, in partnership with Gloucestershire and South Gloucestershire Councils, the service operates a free advice line for local residents.
From recommending simple changes you can make at home, to offering advice on government support and accessing grant funding for energy efficiency improvements, the Warm and Well advice team are just a phone call away on 0800 500 3076.
The service also provides home visits from trained, community-based advisors, who give residents free and impartial home energy support, taking their individual needs and circumstances into account.
Warm and Well has expanded massively since it first launched in 2001 and its home advisors are able to draw on all available funding streams and support agencies to deliver energy-saving home improvements for those who need them.
Warm and Well also delivers the Home Upgrade Grant scheme, offering £6 million in government grants for low-income, off-gas households to access fully-funded home upgrades until March 2025.
You can check if you qualify by completing the online form at warmandwell.org.uk/upgradesg.
How to save money on energy bills
In a recent survey, 82 per cent of customers revealed they worry less about their bills since working with Severn Wye — and as well as providing peace of mind, the service is helping them to reduce carbon emissions, too.
Some of Warm and Well's top tips for saving energy include programming your heating, so you can control when it comes on and goes off. If you don't already have one, making a small investment in a programmable thermostat could save you money in the long run.
Another great tip is to simply turn down your thermostat — with research showing that you could cut your heating bill by up to 10 per cent by turning your heating down by just one degree.
Get into the habit of turning off appliances and lights that you're not using to make further savings, too; and opt for low-energy lightbulbs, which can use up to 90 per cent less energy than standard lightbulbs.
When doing laundry, try and wash your clothes on a 30 or 40 degree cycle — most of a washing machine's energy is used heating the water. Save energy in the kitchen by running a fully-loaded dishwasher instead of washing up by hand, if you can.
Making simple home improvements, like insulating your hot water tank, draught-proofing cold spots and topping up your loft insulation to keep the heat in, can also help to save energy and reduce your bills.
And finally, Warm and Well advises getting a smart meter to keep on top of how much energy you're using.
For more energy efficiency advice and grant funding information, call Warm and Well's free advice line on 0800 500 3076.
