Campaign launches to offer new energy saving tips for families, alongside £150 in Warm Home Discount support for the most vulnerable.
- ‘It All Adds Up’ government campaign will help people make simple changes to save at least £100
- Amazon’s Alexa will offer tips to help improve energy efficiency
- Warm Home Discount to provide more than three million households with £150 to help with winter fuel costs
Families can access simple energy saving tips from today, as the government teams up with Amazon Alexa to relaunch a public information campaign that helped British households save an estimated £120 million last winter.
Through a free collaboration between the government and Amazon, anyone asking Alexa how to reduce their energy bill will now receive the latest government advice on preparing their home for winter and using less energy in the long-term - which could save at least £100 a year. This experience will be available via Amazon Echo devices and on mobiles via the free Alexa app.
Phrases which will prompt Alexa include “Alexa, give me some energy saving tips”, “Alexa, give me tips to conserve energy” and “Alexa, give me tips to get ready for winter”.
The collaboration is part of today’s relaunch of the government’s It All Adds Up campaign, which last year saw 80% of people in the UK saying they had taken at least one of the money-saving actions. Alongside Alexa, advice is available online via the Help for Households website and through a public information campaign including partnerships, billboards and radio adverts later in the autumn.
It comes as more than three million households will from today get told they qualify for the Warm Home Discount. The automatic one-off £150 payment will help eligible, low-income customers in England, Scotland and Wales pay their energy bills over the winter.
Minister for Energy Consumers and Affordability Amanda Solloway said:
We want everyone to be able to take easy steps this winter to save money on their energy bills. By following tips such as reducing boiler flow temperature, or washing clothes at a lower temperature, families could save at least £100 a year.
And our Warm Home Discount will mean that over three million households receive more targeted support to help with the cost of energy.
There are 6 low-to-no cost actions that collectively could save a typical household as much as £100 off their energy bill, with more advice available online.
The 6 measures are:
- Reducing boiler flow temperature to 60 degrees, saving up to £60 per year
- Getting your boiler serviced to prevent costly and unexpected repairs
- Bleeding radiators to remove air pockets and improve their efficiency
- Turning down radiators in rooms not being used, saving up to £50 per year
- Washing clothes at 30 degrees, saving up to £20 per year
- Installing an energy efficient showerhead, saving up to £40 per year
The Warm Home Discount is automatically applied to bills between October 2023 and March 2024, or is available as a top-up voucher for those with a pre-payment meter.
This comes as the Department for Work and Pensions launches its Household Support Fund Awareness Week to encourage vulnerable people across England to contact their councils to find out what support is available in their area. 26 million awards from the Household Support Fund have been made since its launch in October 2021.
Wider government support to help families with costs has also been made available this financial year - including a £900 payment for those on means-tested benefits, £300 for pensioners and an extra £150 available for disabled people. Average energy prices have also fallen again this month - down by 55% since their peak.
Those who qualify for the Warm Home Discount in England and Wales will receive a letter from October onward explaining the discount and instructions on what they need to do next, while customers in Scotland will need to apply directly with their energy supplier as soon as possible.
