It is something which is talked about everywhere you look, electricity prices have gone up to record levels, and with the pressures of electricity companies needing to be more eco-friendly, they are now using this as an excuse to shoot them up even higher. But why are our electricity prices really going up and how can we avoid them going up any more?
There isn’t any real reason as to why the electricity prices have shot up and there isn’t really anyone to blame, which can be a pain for the Great British public to accept.
Since 2003 our electricity prices increased dramatically – the average in 2003 was £583 a year, but now it has shot up to close to £1,300. Many things come into the equation here, such as government taxes on electricity companies forcing them to be more eco-friendly, it could be to do with inflation and it could even be as simple as a lack of stern competition between the energy suppliers.
If our bills rose with inflation and we only paid as much as we actually needed to, we would only be paying roughly £700. The question is then, what is all of this extra money they are charging us?
Well it won’t shock you to find out that 95% of our electricity is controlled by just 6 companies, including British Gas, EDF and Scottish Power. The profits for these companies have risen from £223 million in 2009 to £1.1 billion today, with no real sign of the companies attempting to reduce their own costs. This suggests that perhaps maybe the companies want a bigger profit, and it isn’t a struggle for them to get it at the moment.
So how can we avoid these bills going higher and how can we make our house more self-sufficient? It may involve some investment at the beginning, but it’s possible to reduce costs by creating power sources from your own home. This can be achieved through installing solar panels, wind power systems or even using the heat from the ground below us.
By 2020 the UK government predicts that over 10 million homes will be installed with solar panels, and with the cost of them becoming much cheaper, it is becoming a more popular choice for eco-conscious home owners. This offers home owners a cheaper electricity bill and a calm conscience by being more eco-friendly. It also allows them to sell their electricity back to the national grid so other people around the country can use the electricity generated on your roof, and make them money in the process.
Another option is by installing an eco-friendly trunking system that ensures that you are receiving all of your electricity in the most efficient way possible. They can save you a lot of time and effort in comparison to complicated wiring, as well as make sure you save even more money by receiving all the electricity you pay for.
