Oil price pushing new records

With the new year seeing oil trading at more than $100 per barrel or the first time, leading green support services sector company Eaga plc is urging households to make their homes more energy efficient – and their heating bills more affordable.

Turbulent global markets and political instability around the world can have a profound effect on fuel bills, especially as winter really begins to bite.

Householders may remember the impact of the last oil price hikes, which led to huge rises in domestic gas and electricity prices over the period 2004-06, indeed some bills almost doubled in just under three years.

While we cannot influence oil and energy prices we can help keep the lid on rising costs closer to home.

According to Eaga, just a few simple measures such as loft or cavity wall insulation could save the average household up to £300 a year.

Paul Varley, a Divisional Managing Director for Eaga, said: “Crude oil prices have hit all time record highs this month and the once unimaginable $100 per barrel has been broken. This obviously has a knock-on effect on fuel costs and as ever it will be the most vulnerable who end up paying the most to heat their homes. It is also worth considering that for every 1% rise in energy prices another 40,000 households become fuel poor, which means they are spending more than 10% of their income of fuel to hat the home.

“Of course, there are up-front costs to consider when making your home more environmentally efficient – but these may be less than you imagine and the payback period from the savings shorter. It is also worth noting that grants to cover all or some of these costs, such as the Government-funded Warm Front scheme, are available for people on certain benefits.”

Figures from the Energy Savings Trust show up to 26% of the heat lost from an uninsulated home is through the roof. Fitting loft insulation to the recommended thickness of 270mm to an uninsulated loft can save a typical home around £110 and almost a tonne of carbon dioxide a year.

Insulating cavity walls can save up to £90 and around 750kgs of carbon dioxide a year.

Larger installations, such as modern condensing boilers, can also reduce heating bills by up to 30% as a result of new technology and greater efficiencies.

It is estimated that space heating in homes built after 1995 accounts for around 33% of household energy, while water heating accounts for 25%. In older homes built around the turn of the 20th century, space heating can use as much as 63% of energy and water heating approximately 16%.

Just lighting a house can account for between 15% and 20% of electricity bills. Replacing standard light bulbs with more efficient compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) in heavily used rooms can reduce energy use by as much as 25%.

If you think you may qualify for the Warm Front scheme, or you have relatives who may benefit, please contact 0800 316 6007 and quote MK858 or visit www.warmfront.co.uk

Notes to Editors

• Eaga plc is the UK’s largest residential energy efficiency provider. The company is a leader in the provision of innovative and sustainable services, products and solutions that address the environmental, social and energy efficiency objectives of Government and the private sector both nationally and internationally.
• Working in partnership with central and local government Eaga is positioned at the heart of policy-making and front-end delivery of social and environmental improvement programmes. Eaga operates across the UK and in the Republic of Ireland, India and Canada employing over 3,500 people.
• Eaga was established in Newcastle in 1990 to lead government funded efforts to improve the living conditions of vulnerable people living in cold, damp and energy inefficient homes across England. Since its inception, Eaga has made a positive difference to over 5 million disadvantaged households across the UK, by installing energy efficiency measures and central heating.
• Eaga holds the contract to deliver the £1.5 billion Warm Front programme in England, the cornerstone of government's target to eliminate fuel poverty by installing energy efficiency measures in vulnerable homes by 2010. Eaga also works with devolved nation governments to deliver similar schemes across the UK.
• As a co-owned business, Eaga is one of only a handful of UK organisations where every employee with over a year’s service is entitled to a share in the success of the business. Eaga’s commitment to co-ownership is an integral part of the values that define the ethos of the business and what it means to be an Eaga employee.
• The Government has set targets for all local authorities to have all social rented homes meeting Decent Homes standards by 2010. This requires homes to be fit for habitation, in a reasonable state of repair, with reasonably modern facilities and services and a reasonable degree of thermal comfort.
• Since 2000, Eaga has invested over £3 million in the independent Eaga Partnership Charitable Trust which funds research into solutions to fuel poverty.

Media Contact

Rik Kendall
Group Media Relations Manager
ega plc
07852 134 154
0191 245 8342