This situation provides us all with great opportunities to open the conversation with customers about how they might reduce their exposure to such increases, by looking at renewable energy and heating systems.
As unit energy costs rise, we can revisit our investment and return calculations with fresh enthusiasm. Whilst it would take a foolish man to predict the future, I’d wager that energy prices will continue to rise and will outstrip wage inflation by some distance.
All those sums quantifying the value of replaced energy can be re-calculated; all the return-on-investment calculations will provide shorter paybacks. The case is most compelling for those who don’t have access to mains gas, where the cost of basic fuels has increased even more sharply.
The provision of space heating and hot water makes up 80 percent of most household energy bills and therefore provide householders with by far the biggest opportunities for savings, despite the oft-held ideas that unplugging phone chargers and not putting the telly on standby will slash bills.
So now is the time to tell the great British public, don’t think about it as improving energy efficiency, think about the prospect of not wasting money!