I had an energy expert give my home a full heat loss MOT and we found bill savings worth £759
HIGH energy bills remain a bane for millions of households, but a quick check could help you find heat loss hot spots and slash costs.
OVO Energy is one firm offering families the chance to save money on gas and electric through its Home Health Reports.
They’re available UK-wide and see an “energy expert” visit your home and carry out a full MOT.
The experts, who are qualified domestic energy assessors, factor in everything from your insulation, to glazing and lifestyle habits.
At the end, you are given a up-to-date Energy Performance Certificate (EPC), which rates your property’s energy efficiency, and offered any tips which could save you money on your bills.
You are also directed to any government schemes that could help pay towards the cost of any changes.
Any immediate changes that need to be done to your home are flagged as well, like getting a boiler serviced.
The visits cost £40 for OVO customers, or £25 if you’re signed up to the firms’ rewards scheme – OVO Beyond.
Non-OVO customers have to pay £100 for the service.
In any case, you need to be a homeowner to get one of the reports completed.
I had one of the energy experts visit my home earlier this month to see if they’re worth the money and, crucially, how I could save money on my bills.
What happened on the visit?
Sean Newman, who covers the whole of the south of England, was my OVO energy expert for the day.
Every Home Health Report, which takes about 90 minutes to complete, is bespoke and he is able to give an EPC rating and you can ask specific questions on how to cut bills.
For my visit, Sean started off downstairs using a laser measure to work out the square meterage of the property.
Moving upstairs, he checked out the radiators to see if I had thermostatic radiator vales (TRCs) which, if used properly, can reduce your heating bill.
He also looked at the draught proofing on the windows to see if they were holding in any heat pumping out from the radiators.
All throughout the process, he was looking for ways where the energy-efficiency of the home could be improved.
For example, Sean flagged that the chimney in the living room downstairs could be a major heat loss hot spot, wasting around 1% of the property’s heating.
He recommended buying a chimney balloon, which you can buy online for around £17, to put in the empty space to block any heat from escaping.
He also flagged that the windows at the front end of the house upstairs could be thicker, meaning less heat is lost through them.
How to get free energy-saving improvements done to your home
Home Upgrade Grant – this is a government grant scheme where you can apply for funding to cover the cost of installing energy-saving measures in your home such as insulation or a low-carbon heating system.
But, you can only apply if you’re on certain benefits including Child Benefit, Universal Credit and Income Support.
You apply via your local council. You can find what council area you fall under here www.gov.uk/find-local-council.
ECO – the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) is another government scheme where you can get energy-saving measures installed in your home.
Help is offered on a case-by-case basis, but it can mean having a new boiler fitted, or loft or cavity wall insulation put in, often for free.
You also need to be on certain benefits or a low income to qualify.
You apply for help through your local council.
However, he said the cost of getting thicker windows installed probably wouldn’t outweigh the potential savings to be had.
One other major heat loss hot spot Sean found was in the loft, where the insulation was far too thin.
He said the recommended thickness is 270ml, but mine is 50ml, so changing that would save us some money on my bills.
After doing all his checks, Sean sat me down and talked me through the new EPC rating for the property, which came through as a high D.
To put that in context, most new-build properties have A or B EPC ratings, but the average across England and Wales is D.
How to save on your energy bills
SWITCHING energy providers can sound like a hassle - but fortunately it's pretty straight forward to change supplier - and save lots of cash.
Shop around – If you’re on an SVT deal you are likely throwing away up to £250 a year. Use a comparion site such as MoneySuperMarket.com, uSwitch or EnergyHelpline.com to see what deals are available to you.
The cheapest deals are usually found online and are fixed deals – meaning you’ll pay a fixed amount usually for 12 months.
Switch – When you’ve found one, all you have to do is contact the new supplier.
It helps to have the following information – which you can find on your bill – to hand to give the new supplier.
- Your postcode
- Name of your existing supplier
- Name of your existing deal and how much you payAn up-to-date meter reading
It will then notify your current supplier and begin the switch.
It should take no longer than three weeks to complete the switch and your supply won’t be interrupted in that time.
He said the building has the potential to be a B though, if we were to implement all the changes he recommended.
This included five major tweaks:
- installing loft insulation to 270mm thickness from 50mm (up to £350 installation cost) – £66 yearly saving
- adding internal or external wall insulation at the front of the home, both upstairs and downstairs (up to £14,000 installation cost) – £166 yearly saving
- lay underfloor insulation on the ground floor (up to £1,200 installation cost) – £41 yearly saving
- add solar panels to the roof to heat water (up to £6,000 installation cost) – £48 yearly saving
- add solar panels to the roof to generate electricity (up to £5,500 installation cost) – £438 yearly saving
If I implemented all the changes Sean suggested, I could save £759 a year on energy bills.
Is it worth it?
Over time the cost having a OVO HOme Health Report could be worth it, especially if they find ways for you to make substantial savings.
It felt very in-depth, as he scoured the home to make sure every aspect of the home was as energy-efficient as possible, from light bulbs to switching appliances off standby and adjusting the flow temperature of the boiler.
I really liked how the report also includes average installation costs, so you can easily work out whether you think they would be worth it or not.
Other firms offering home health checks
British Gas offers Home Health Checks to customers and non-customers for £99.
The visits, carried out by a domestic energy assessor, take around an hour to complete.
However, you don’t get an EPC rating at the end of it, just information on how energy-efficient your home is.
You also need to own the property you are having the health check done on, like with OVO’s Home Health reports.
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