Spreading warmth to the Joneses

Like many of our older customers, Mr and Mrs Jones rely on their heating and electricity for their health. Mr Jones suffers from arthritis, diabetes and circulation problems and is just recovering from cancer. Staying warm is essential.

Thankfully, the Joneses are an energy efficient couple. They live in a double-glazed, well insulated house with gas central heating and a regularly serviced boiler so when their energy bills started to creep up inexplicably, they called our energy efficiency helpline for advice.

We set up a home visit with Mr and Mrs Jones to see how we might help. First, we put in a real time display (RTD) smart meter, so they could monitor their energy use. They also signed up to our Warm Response Service, so they can have quarterly meter readings for more accurate bills. Mr Jones was especially happy about that, as his arthritis made it difficult to read the meters himself.

We went back a couple of months later to see how Mr and Mrs Jones were getting on. Since the RTD was put in, they have saved on their energy bills and have become more aware of the energy they are using and the benefits of being more energy efficient.

Finally, we got the Joneses onto our Spreading Warmth Tariff, which could save them up to £250 a year. And we’ll stay in touch to make sure they’re still warm and well.

Spreading warmth to Mrs. Stockham

One of our customers who has benefited from our Spreading Warmth Programme is Mrs Stockham, an active 80 year old who lives alone, on very little income, in a privately rented dormer bungalow.

Her home isn’t an easy place to keep warm. Due to the property construction, it is very difficult to insulate to the recommended levels.

By the time Mrs Stockham called us in for a home visit, things were bad. She had turned off all the storage heaters, because they were too expensive. She couldn’t afford the oil to run her range cooker so she’d been using a small electric cooker and immersion heater for her hot water instead.

The first thing we did was show Mrs Stockham that she could be better off using her storage heaters, as they’re heated overnight at the lower night rate to give out heat during the day. And they give out heat for longer than electric heaters, which also cost more to run at the higher day rate.

We suggested that she get her landlord to fit a timer to the immersion heater, hang curtains and that she get into the habit of closing doors. We also got her onto our Warm Response Service, which offers quarterly meter readings for more accurate bills.

We went back 12 months later and we were delighted to see that Mrs Stockham had put the majority of our suggestions in place. We also recommended that she changed to our Spreading Warmth Tariff, enabling her to benefit from a discount of £125 per fuel. We’ll keep looking for ways to help customers like Mrs Stockham use less and save more.