A multi-million-pound government drive to lower energy bills will tell households to turn their boilers down to 60C. The £18million public information campaign to be launched in the coming weeks will give tips on how to cut energy use this winter.
Advice includes telling households to turn down radiators in empty rooms and to draught-proof their windows and doors. They will also be told that they can reduce the temperature a boiler heats water to before it is sent to radiators - known as the boiler flow temperature - from 75C to 60C.
Following this advice could save a typical household £160 per year, according to the guidance to be published on the help for households website. A previous attempt to introduce a public information campaign on energy-saving measures was blocked under Liz Truss’s administration over concerns they were too “nanny state”.
The campaign will form part of a two-pronged strategy spearheaded by Grant Shapps, the Business Secretary, which will also involve a £1billion scheme to give middle-income families 'eco' grants to make their homes more energy efficient.
Labour has criticised it as a “reheated announcement with no new resources” that comes “far too little too late”. Hundreds of thousands of households could receive loft and cavity wall insulation under the scheme running for three years from spring.
The Government has set an ambition of reducing energy use by 15% by 2030 as it battles the spiking energy prices caused by Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine. Mr Shapps said: “A new Eco scheme will enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets and creating jobs across the country.
“And in the short term, our new public information campaign will also give people the tools they need to reduce their energy use while keeping warm this winter.”
But shadow climate change secretary Ed Miliband said: “This reheated announcement with no new resources, is far too little too late and will help only a tiny fraction of the millions of people facing a cost-of-living emergency this winter. Labour’s warm homes plan would insulate up to two million homes a year, saving pensioners and families up to £1,000 off their energy bills.
“Rishi Sunak wants to crawl towards warmer homes and cheaper bills for our country. Labour will sprint for it – because that’s what the bills crisis demands.”
Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Georgia Whitaker warned the funding was not nearly enough as nearly seven million homes are suffering fuel poverty, while 19 million homes in England and Wales are badly insulated.
“This is a drop in the ocean compared to what people actually need to stay warm and well this winter and in the winters to come,” she said. “At least £6bn is needed by the end of this Parliament for a nationwide insulation programme that will not only help reduce our emissions but will also reduce the terrible levels of fuel poverty in the UK.
“The sooner the Government realises this and actually gets going the sooner we’ll have more affordable bills, more energy security and a more stable climate.”
