How to cut your energy bills

We are all faced with the prospect of higher gas and electricity bills this winter, but, unlike council tax, there is something we can do about it. Prices may be going up - British Gas has just announced a hike of 14.2% and EDF (whose subsidiaries include London Energy, Seeboard and SWEB) is increasing its gas and electricity prices by 12% and 10.7% respectively - but we are also using more power than we need. Electricity consumption by lights and household appliances has doubled since 1970 and is expected to rise another 12% by 2010, says Justin Harper in the Daily Mail.

We are all faced with the prospect of higher gas and electricity bills this winter, but, unlike council tax, there is something we can do about it. Prices may be going up - British Gas has just announced a hike of 14.2% and EDF (whose subsidiaries include London Energy, Seeboard and SWEB) is increasing its gas and electricity prices by 12% and 10.7% respectively - but we are also using more power than we need. Electricity consumption by lights and household appliances has doubled since 1970 and is expected to rise another 12% by 2010, says Justin Harper in the Daily Mail.

This is bad for our pockets and the environment. In the UK, around 30% of carbon dioxide emissions come from energy used in our homes. Energy efficiency measures, if we all adopted them, could reduce this impact by a third, according to the Centre for Alternative Technology www.cat.org.uk.

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