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Energy Price Hikes: Keep Your Comfort in Full Control with Wiser
We’ve entered a crisis in the cost of living, an effect being seen across the world as food and fuel costs are pushed up, putting pressure on millions. One of the areas hitting UK homes hardest is the significant rise in energy costs.
Why are energy costs rising in the UK?
Increases in wholesale gas prices cause a domino effect down to the consumer, and several global factors have driven up the price:
- A long, cold Winter in Europe between 2020 and 2021 caused gas shortages across the continent.
- Complications and delays to pipeline development across the Baltic Sea is exacerbating shortages.
- Demand for gas is increasing as pandemic restrictions ease and activities start to return to pre-pandemic levels.
What’s the energy price cap?
Higher wholesale gas prices have already caused the liquidation of dozens of smaller energy companies who cannot absorb the higher costs. From April 1st 2022, the UK Government raised the energy price cap – the maximum price energy suppliers in England, Wales and Scotland can charge households – allowing suppliers to put up their prices to cope with the higher costs. These caps are reviewed every 6 months and could be increased further in October 2022.
What will energy prices go up to?
As of April 2022, Ofgem reports that the average total household fuel bill will increase by £693, from £1,277 to £1,971 per year.
How much are heating costs going up by?
Which? Estimates heating and hot water costs to be around 50% of a household's total fuel bill, which makes the average heating and hot water bill £985.50 per year from April 2022.
How can I reduce energy costs without reducing comfort?
Whilst these are daunting figures for many households already under financial pressure, fortunately more advanced heating technology is giving homeowners more power to manage energy costs, by letting users tailor heating schedules and harness easier multi-room control, only using energy when and where it’s needed.
In-app feedback and data displays also make it easier to see where energy is being used across the home, empowering you to reduce wastage and save money.
Save energy with Smart Heating by Wiser
Prior to April 2022, research from BEAMA, Salford University and our customer field data demonstrated that smart heating from Wiser could save up to £200 a year when upgrading from a basic Class I room thermostat and a system that lacks multi-room heating control.
In the wake of energy price increases, we’ve recalculated these figures to help you understand the potential savings of upgrading your heating controls to Wiser, which could now save you £450* a year in energy costs.
Whilst there is an initial setup cost, the energy saved with Wiser could pay back the purchase cost within just a year in the case of an average UK 3-bedroom property.
*Research by BEAMA & Salford University 2021, plus Schneider Electric field trials of Wiser smart mode usage across 2021
Budget your energy with NEW Insights+ from Wiser
Launched late last year, Insights+ is our newest in-app feature. Insights+ communicates with your smart meter to harvest even more useful information about your real-time energy use across the home, for a one-off cost of just £19.99.
Our field trials show that Insights+ could save you a further 7% energy, in addition to the savings above, which equates to almost £70 a year in energy saved, as it allows you to better understand and be reactive to your energy use and where it can be reduced, by using its features:
- Track spend in £ and kWH
- Get future energy spend predictions based on your usage
- Set budgets for your future energy use and get notifications when approaching your budgets
The extra savings available when you have Insights+ means your total potential savings of upgrading to smart heating by Wiser from a basic Class I thermostat and installing multi-room heating control may lead to up to £522 in energy saved per year.
Recap: 5 simple steps to save energy with Wiser
- Upgrade to a best practice thermostat with direct boiler modulation, a standard feature of all Wiser thermostats that improves boiler efficiency and saves 12% energy a year.
- The addition of smart heating control via an app means the ability to make changes to your heating from anywhere, at any time, saving up to 6% more energy per year.
- Add multi-room control to only heat the areas you’re using, and Wiser’s smart radiator thermostats make this even easier via the Wiser Home app, saving up to 19% energy vs. having no multi-room heating control.
- Make the most of energy-saving Smart Modes – Wiser’s Away Mode and Eco Mode are easily enabled via the app and when both are used regularly can save up to 16% more energy per year.
- Get Insights+ for more advanced energy usage data and get the ability to track and budget your energy spend, to save an extra 7% energy per year.
Find out more about Saving Energy With Wiser, or Visit Our Online Shop Today
