Household bills for energy and heating are continuously volatile and have hit the pockets of consumers hard in the last couple of years. The external factors influencing your bills hitting record highs and seemingly not dropping are complex, but there are solutions in your control that can alleviate a lot of that worry.
Why is the energy crisis happening?
There isn’t one reason for this. The issue facing households up and down the UK, and even further afield, might’ve been a quick one to fix had there been an obvious sole reason for such a jump in bills.
It’s undeniable that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has played a part in all of this. Russia was a huge supplier of oil and gas to countries all over the planet, so when the invasion commenced, supply chains were hit and the financial markets responded accordingly. Having said this, the UK sourced a smaller fraction of their oil and gas from Russia than Europe, so shouldn’t this be reflected in the bills we face comparatively? Yes and no.
State intervention varies from country to country. For instance, the French government announced that EDF, the public energy company for France which is mostly state-owned, couldn’t increase their price by more than 4% during the uncertainty, so the government would take the hit on this front.
Help was on hand in another form from the UK government, of course, who covered around £400 or more for billpayers, spread over 6 months. This is more assistance than residents in other countries received but less than others did, hence why there’s no way to accurately compare bills at first glance.
Alternative sources of fuel
While the devastation in Ukraine continues, so will the effects on the global gas supply. Therefore, is electricity an obvious alternative? Probably not, at least in the UK anyway. Electricity requires a fuel source of some kind and in the UK, a large proportion of the electricity that reaches our homes is powered by gas.
Essentially, gas is burned to power a turbine that generates electricity, so if you source your electricity from an external source and supplier, there’s a strong chance these bills will be high too because gas is so often used to power it.
That’s why many people up and down the nation are looking at wood-burning appliances or using smokeless coal as a route to save money and heat their homes.
It’s no surprise that these appliances have an up-front cost that deters some, but they shouldn’t. In the long run, you can save almost 75% on your energy bills when compared to electric heating and over 20% compared to gas. These savings make total sense during times of financial hardship.
The efficiency of a wood-burning stove, for instance, when using kiln-dried wood that won’t produce a lot of smoke makes it more worthwhile. This saves the amount of time you need to shop for a fuel source and burns your wood for longer so you won’t need to top up your fire as often with valuable stock.
If you’re starting your fire in a fireplace or a multi-fuel stove, smokeless coal is equally as effective. HouseFuel offers a range of smokeless coal for you to choose from for an efficient fire that will reduce what you spend on heating.
