Thursday 25 August 2022

What the government could do to lower the bills of those in social housing

Before I get stuck in to the beef of this, happy belated Birthday to me. I was 60 on Monday. For me, a few bills have gone down. A whole new world has opened up for me. I'm getting an over 60's Travelcard, so I can roam London for free. I'm estimating that this will save me £2-300 a year. I went to Hever Castle with the family yesterday and got £2 off the entry price. What could be better. This being an OAP lark will save me a fortune..........


Well that's the theory. Sadly, there is more to it than that. We have a cost of living crisis. This morning I had plums and pears from the garden in my Porridge. It's that time of year. They were tasty. Nothing better than picking your own fruit and eating it straight from the tree. But soon the last of the summer plums will have gone and the fruit will need to come from the supermarjet, the nights will get darker, the lights will go on. The weather will chill, the radiators will go on. The bills will start to roll in. Come October, the energy price cap will be raised. My first proper day job in IT in 1983 paid me £6,000 a year.  The stories lead us to believe we could be paying this sum simply to light the house and keep warm. It will hit us a bit less hard than some. In 2017, we installed solar panels. Apparently these make us 23% self sufficient in energy. 

We paid £7,500 for the system. We get a feed in tariff of 4p per Kilowatt, so I've got about £1,000 back in payments.  If our electricty bill had averaged £1600 a year in this period, I've saved about £1,500 so far. So in around 4.5 years, I've got £2,500 back for my investment. It would take me 13.5 years at this rate to get my money back. However, if the price goes up as predicted. then that period will be done in 3.5 years. We have slowly been doing other things to be more energy efficient, last year we got new double glazing etc.  To some extent we will be cushioned. We are lucky. To me, the panels were an insurance policy. A bit like taking out a fixed price mortgage (oh yes, ours expires next year). It may cost you more, but if things go crazy at least you have a chance. 

I mention all of this because it gives you some idea of what I believe the UK should be doing. The people at the bottom of the pile tend to be in social housing. Unlike me, they can't afford to invest in solar panels and top qulaity double glazing. I've long campaigned for social housing to have proper measures taken to lower bills. If every person in social housing had a home that was properly insulated and had solar panels, this would do four very good things. It would massively reduce the bills for the people who need the money. If the council kept the feed in tariff, it would give them a long term revenue stream. It would reduce our dependence on foreign fuels and it would lower the carbon footprint of the UK. This should have been government policy for a very long time. It is scandalous that it isn't. 

The difference between private property owners and councils is that the councils should be able to take a long term view. It is time they did. 

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