Energy costs are the highest they’ve ever been, with a growing consensus that they will keep increasing in 2023. The Office for Financial Responsibility (OBR) has predicted fuel duty will rise by 23% next year. With fuel and energy bills, we are estimating that the energy costs of the average household will rise to £4,600 in April 2023-24 – more than 150% higher than a couple of years ago!
There are things you can do to save money in the long run, while also helping to reduce your carbon footprint.
1. Install solar panels
Installing a 4kW solar panel array would likely save in the region of £750 in the tax year 2023-24 in an average household. Savings are directly linked to the cost of electricity: if the cost of electricity continues to rise, the household would save money and vice versa. Additionally, the more electricity used during the day while it is sunny, the more money the household will save as they use less electricity from the grid.
2. Switch to an electric vehicle
Assuming a typical household has a small hatchback such as the Volkswagen Up, switching to the electric version could save up to £664 in the tax year April 2023-24. The EV efficiency of such a car would be approximately 4 miles per kWh of electricity, while a petrol equivalent would achieve approximately 50 miles per gallon.
3. Install solar panels and switch to an electric vehicle
Electric vehicles and solar panels are complementary technologies because, if the vehicle schedule allows, electric vehicles can be charged using solar power, thus avoiding the high-cost electricity from the grid. For example, a family who use an EV for the school run and leave the car parked in the garage between 10am-2pm will be able to charge the car almost entirely from solar power and the financial case is much stronger.
If the vehicle is charged directly from solar power for 60% of the time, additional annual cost savings of between £300-£500 could be achieved; this is on top of the £746 saved from installing solar panels and £664 from getting an electric vehicle.
4. Install a heat pump
Once installed, the heat pump could save up to £859 in the tax year April 2023-24, while increasing the value to the property and saving between 1.5 and 3 tonnes of carbon per year. The energy bill savings of a heat pump project result from both the insulation which reduces the total amount of heating required and the heat pump which provides that heating more efficiently.
Becoming more energy-independent and improving the efficiency of your home you can reduce your vulnerability to future energy cost rises, cut energy costs today, and slash your carbon footprint.
By switching heating and transport to electric alternatives, we become less dependent on external gas markets effectively hedging against future gas costs crisis; although energy costs are difficult to swallow, now may be the time to invest.
Try an electric vehicle today by taking up a subscription with EZOO to start your decarbonisation journey with a minimum upfront cost.
To find out more about any of the cars in our fleet, please visit our Browse Cars section, or contact us by sending an email to [email protected].