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| On Monday evening National Grid paid hundreds of thousands of households to cut their electricity usage amid the current cold snap. It was a stark reminder of the strain on both our energy resources and everyday bills each time sub-zero temperatures return to the UK.
Energy bills are forecast to fall from July, but the average household is unlikely to pay much less than £2,000 for some time. Households playing the long game are investing in energy efficiency measures in a bid to manage bills in the future.
A set of solar panels typically costs £5,500 and households can expect to pay between £7,000 to £13,000 for an air source heat pump, rising up to £19,000 for the ground source variety. But green renovations have varying payback periods, initial costs are high and there is little in the way of subsidies. Tom Haynes investigates how much it will really cost you to go green.
Households have invested tens of thousands of pounds in electric vehicles, buoyed by promises of a “green industrial revolution” by former prime minster Boris Johnson. But in reality greener driving has been foiled by a chronic lack of charging points. Click here read how broken promises betrayed electric car drivers.
There is no shortage of obstacles faced by households hoping to cut their energy bills, but some have excelled nonetheless. We meet one savvy billpayer who expects to save £12,000 a year by storing up cut-price energy in a small tower of batteries.
Elsewhere, savers have this week been warned of a “nasty shock” waiting for them in retirement. Just one in three high earners with household income above £100,000 are on track to afford a comfortable retirement, according to Britain’s largest broker. My colleague Lauren Almeida crunches the numbers here.
Its clear the next cohort of pensioners must learn to cope with leaner pots. Long cruises and luxurious holidays will soon be a thing of the past for many retirees – we explain why here. |
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Some View on the World 