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Save Money on your Energy Bills this Winter

CCB's Project Co-ordinator, Helen Dean, has been very busy zipping all over Berkshire offering energy savings advice to low income households, people at risk of fuel poverty and practitioners that work with vulnerable people. Here she shares some top tips on how we can all help to reduce our energy bills this winter....


1. Understand your bill
The information on a typical energy bill can be confusing. But understanding it can go a long way to helping you get to grips with your energy use.

2. Switch off standby
You can save around £30 a year just by remembering to turn your appliances off standby mode.
Almost all electrical and electronic appliances can be turned off at the plug without upsetting their programming. You may want to think about getting a standby saver which allows you to turn all your appliances off standby in one go.
Check the instructions for any appliances you aren’t sure about. Some satellite and digital TV recorders may need to be left plugged in so they can keep track of any programmes you want to record.

3. Careful in your kitchen
You can save nearly £50 a year just by using your kitchen appliances more carefully:
Use a bowl to wash up rather than a running tap and save £30 a year in energy bills.
Only fill the kettle with the amount of water that you need and save around £7 a year.
Cutback your washing machine use by just one cycle per week and save £5 a year on energy, and a further £7 a year on metered water bills.

4. Get a head
If you’ve got a shower that takes hot water straight from your boiler or hot water tank (rather than an electric shower), fit a water efficient shower head. This will reduce your hot water usage while retaining the sensation of a powerful shower.

A water efficient shower head could save a four person household (eg a family of four or even a shared student flat) around £80 a year on gas for water heating, as well as a further £120 on water bills if they have a water meter.

Calculation is based on the assumption that the family takes 20 showers a week and replaces a 13 litre/minute power-shower head with a 7.7 litre / min water efficient shower head, and the family are charged £2.82 per cubic meter of water used (includes sewage charge).

5. Spend less time in the shower
Spending one minute less in the shower each day will save around £8 off your energy bills each year, per person. With a water meter this could save a further £12 off annual water and sewerage bills. If everyone in a four person family did this it would lead to a total saving of £80 a year.

6. Draught proofing
Unless your home is very new, you will lose some heat through draughts around doors and windows, gaps around the floor, or through the chimney.

Professional draught-proofing of windows, doors and blocking cracks in floors and skirting boards can cost around £200, but can save up to £25 to £35 a year on energy bills. DIY draught proofing can be much cheaper. Installing a chimney draught excluder could save between £20 and £25 a year as well.

7. Take control of your heating
More than half the money spent on fuel bills goes towards providing heating and hot water. Installing a room thermostat, a programmer and thermostatic radiator valves and using these controls efficiently could save you between £75 and £155 a year. If you already have a full set of controls, down your room thermostat by just one degree can save between £80 and £85 a year.

Whatever the age of your boiler the right controls will let you set your heating and hot water to come on and off when you need them heat only the areas of your home that need heating set the temperature for each area of your home.

8. Get savvy with smart controls
Smart heating controls are the latest innovation to help you control your heating and understand your energy use.
They allow you to control your heating remotely via a mobile app, meaning that you can manage the temperature of your home from wherever you are, at whatever time of day. For further information please click here

9. Switch to LEDs
You can now get LED spotlights that are bright enough to replace halogens, as well as regular energy saving bulbs (‘compact fluorescent lamps’ or CFLs). They come in a variety of shapes, sizes and fittings.
If the average household replaced all of their remaining old-fashioned bulbs with CFLs, and all of their halogens with LEDs, it would cost about £100 and save about £35 a year on bills.

10. Turn off lights
Turn your lights off when you’re not using them. If you switch a l light off for just a few seconds, you will save more energy than it takes for the light to start up again, regardless of the type of light. This will save you around £13 on your annual energy bills.

Top tips courtesy of Energy Saving Trust

Christmas is an expensive time of year - Smart Energy Meters can help you save money in the future

As it is nearly Christmas people will no doubt be thinking about how much money they have to spend, so we thought we would let you know a bit more about smart meters and how they can help you save money. 

Can smart meters save you money on your bills?
Smart meters are the new generation of gas and electricity meters. They are being installed in homes across Great Britain at no extra cost, to replace the traditional meters.  There are plenty of gadgets that can help control energy use, but smart meters are different because:
• they an only be installed by an energy supplier 
• they show exactly how much energy you’re using and what it’s costing, in near-real time in pounds and pence
• they send accurate meter readings to your energy supplier, so no more estimated bills or manual meter readings
With your smart meter, you’ll always be able to keep track of exactly how much gas and electricity you’re using in near real time, and what it costs in pounds and pence. This means you can be confident that you're only paying for what you have actually used and you'll always know what to expect in your next bill, so no more nasty surprises.

How will a smart meter save me money?

Smart meters make it easier for us to identify the situations where we're using a lot of energy and might want to make changes to reduce it.

If you use the information shown on your in-home display to help reduce your energy use, you should be able to cut your energy costs. You will be able to work out which appliances in your home are using the most energy and make changes to save money. Smart meters also mean accurate bills, so you can be confident that you're only paying for what you've actually used, rather than overpaying, as you sometimes do with estimates.

When can I get a smart meter?

Everyone in Britain will be offered a smart meter by their energy supplier by 2020 as part of a national upgrade to our energy system. Contact your supplier to find out more or visit Smart Energy GB. 

Festive Cheer and Happy 2017 from all at CCB

From L-R Gemma Pearce, Sara Charlesworth, Peter Sampson, Jayne Kirk, Arlene Kersley, Helen Dean, Tim Parry, Helen Lambert, Grenville Annetts, Keith Lamberts & Lawrence Spillar

 Last week we had our annual Staff/Trustees bring and share Christmas lunch at Beech Hill Memorial Hall. It was a jolly affair with hats being adorned and wind up santa's being raced. 

More than this though it was a celebration of the Community Council for Berkshire supporting and advising rural communities in Berkshire for 43 years!

The Trustees and Staff team would like to take this opportunity to wish all our visitors a VERY merry Christmas and a successful and joyous New Year.

Free Training: Affordable Housing in 2017 - What is it? Who is for? How is it developed?

Free Training: Affordable Housing in 2017

What is it?  Who is for? How is it developed?

Tuesday, 21st February 2017
18.30 - 21.00
Calcot Community Centre

Changes in legislation and policy over the past few years have resulted in significant changes in ‘affordable’ housing tenures and how it is funded, developed and allocated.

This session will help you to understand:
• Understand the different affordable housing tenures
• Who qualifies for affordable housing
• How is affordable housing developed?  
• Funding for development
• What is different about ‘rural’ housing and rural exception sites
• What are the development tools available to communities to get the development they want? (Community Led Development, Self-build options; Neighbourhood Planning)

Join us for a better understanding of the different approaches that can be taken to get the right housing for your community.

Register for your place by completing the electronic form at: https://ccberks.wufoo.com/forms/z1qkdv961q3ndus/

For more information contact Arlene Kersley, Rural Housing Enabler for Berkshire at CCB on: 0118 961 2000 or by email at: arlene.kersley@ccberks.org.uk

This training is supported and funded by West Berkshire Council Adult Community Learning

Berkshire Community Foundation's -SURVIVING WINTER

The choice between eating or heating that no one should have to make.

Surviving Winter is raising money to help the elderly, isolated or disadvantaged this winter who are having to choose between eating or heating.    An estimated 9,000 people died last winter in England and Wales as a result of living in a cold home and in Berkshire there are an estimated 28,000 households that are fuel poor.    

Berkshire Community Foundation (BCF) are asking local people who do not need their winter fuel allowance to donate it. Even if you don’t receive a winter fuel payment, you can still make a donation of any size. It is a simple, compassionate, generous gift that really does transform people’s lives, enabling them to stay warm and healthy over Christmas and throughout winter.    

Donations will be used to fund projects in Berkshire to support adults and children most in need of help, making sure they can afford to stay warm, eat well, and stay healthy throughout the winter. Last year one of BCF's grants helped fund a CCB project supporting 141 families with young children in fuel poverty and levered in £6,300 of income to low income families that they would not have otherwise received.            

Donate today     

You can visit BCF's dedicated online giving page to make a simple, easy and safe donation. You can also create your own fundraising page here to raise money Surviving Winter.  Or you can donate by posting a cheque (please make cheques payable to “Berkshire Community Foundation” but mark that your donation is for Surviving Winter) to: Berkshire Community Foundation, 100 Longwater Avenue, Green Park, Reading, RG2 6GP.  If you are a UK Taxpayer, please also use this gift aid form to add 25% to your donation.  Thank you! 

NHS Berkshire Health Network Update - Taking care yourself this winter

Below are some tips from NHS Berkshire Health Network on how to take care of yourself and others this winter.

There are many ways you can keep yourself well during winter. You can
• Get immunised against flu, to protect you or to reduce its severity
• Stock up on over the counter cold and flu remedies
• Make sure you keep at least one room in your home at 18 degrees centigrade
• Get minor symptoms checked by your local pharmacist, who can give you advice on the spot
• Call NHS 111 for advice if you’re concerned
• Only go to A&E if your symptoms are serious or life-threatening.

The campaign to encourage take-up of free flu immunisations by people who are 'at risk' from the complications of flu has been active for about a month, but there is still time to get yours if you haven’t already. Those in the risk groups include people aged 65 and over, patients with underlying health conditions (such as long-term heart or respiratory disease), pregnant women and those with weakened immune systems.

Children aged two, three and four years can have a free nasal spray vaccination from a GP. School-aged children aged five, six and seven years will have been invited by school health nursing teams to be immunised with the nasal spray in schools.

Watch a video of West Berkshire's Dr Andy Ciecierski describing who is eligible for a free NHS flu vaccination