• 2010
• 2009
• 2008
• 2007
• 2006
• 2005

Media

Winter Starts Now! 24 July 2009

Only 100 days till winter so start preparing while the sun shines

With 100 days to go before the official start of winter(1) 2009/10, The Home Heat Helpline (0800 33 66 99) is urging pensioners, families on low incomes and people with health problems or disabilities to get in touch now to seek advice on how they can save money by reducing their energy bills.

The freephone Helpline is today launching its ‘Winter starts now’ initiative to encourage customers who are worried about their energy bills to get in touch over the summer months to take advantage of the free grants for home insulation, reduced or ‘social’ tariffs and other help available from their energy supplier.

Pensioners, families living on low incomes and people with health problems or disabilities can get free, practical help during the warmer months to make sure they’re fully prepared when the cold snap comes around again.

The Helpline – which has received over 100,000 calls since launching in 2005 – is backed by a range of support organisations including Age Concern / Help the Aged; Citizen’s Advice; National Energy Action; Energy Saving Trust; Counsel and Care and Gingerbread.

The Home Heat Helpline also allows worried householders – or their relatives, friends and carers – to make enquiries online at www.homeheathelpline.org.uk

Research(2) reveals that despite the recession and rising levels of fuel poverty, around 80 per cent of Britons were unaware of services like the Home Heat Helpline which offer free advice and assistance with reducing energy bills.

Garry Felgate, chief executive of the Energy Retail Association, which manages the Home Heat Helpline said:

“During these summer months, we are naturally more interested in enjoying the warm weather rather than thinking about heating our homes over the forthcoming winter. However, without wishing to put a damper on the summer, we are urging people to take action now to prepare for the cold weather that will come later in the year and ensure they get lagging for their lofts and cavity wall insulation fitted before the cold of winter sets in.

“Many people could be reducing their energy costs now and some will be eligible for grants and social tariffs. The weather may be hot and dry, but it’s a fact that winter is only 100 days away and the time for action is today. The Home Heat Helpline message is clear: winter starts now and we would urge anyone concerned about their fuel costs to get in touch to take advantage of any help and advice that we can offer.”

Mervyn Kohler, Special Adviser at Age Concern and Help the Aged said: “Our survey evidence shows that older people are really concerned about fuel prices and keeping themselves warm in the winter, and all the objective evidence measuring illness and winter deaths shows that they have every cause for that concern. But there are programmes to help to reduce fuel costs, run by energy suppliers, the Government, and other agencies.

“Calling the Home Heat Helpline is a way to find out about these schemes (and, for example, every household with a person over 70 can ask for free loft insulation). It’s worth making the call, and there is still time to act on the answer before winter kicks in.”

ENDS

For more information, please contact Claire Gibson on 020 7104 4162 or Oliver Wright on 020 7104 4159.

Notes to editor

• (1) In the United Kingdom and Ireland the winter solstice (Dec 21/22) is traditionally considered midwinter, with the winter season, historically, beginning on November 1st on All Hallows or Samhain (summer’s end in Gaelic).
  Winter ends and spring begins on Imbolc or Candlemas, which is February 1 or 2. This system of seasons is based on the length of days. The three-month period of the shortest days and weakest solar radiation occurs during November, December and January in the Northern Hemisphere (May-July in the Southern).

• (1) The research survey was carried out on 2,924 people across the UK by Opinion Matters in November 2008.

• Photo caption: “Garry Felgate, Chief Executive of the Energy Retail Association with pensioners Blanche Norris (left) and Doreen Brame (right) launching the Home Heat Helpline Winter Starts Now campaign.”
  Photo available at the link below: Click here

• The Home Heat Helpline operates from Monday to Friday 9am-8pm and from 10am-2pm on Saturday.

• The Home Heat Helpline is a free number – 0800 33 66 99 – providing vulnerable customers with a direct link to specialist teams at their energy supplier, who can deliver one or more of the following services:

a. The Priority Service Register which provides extra services for people who are elderly or disabled including bills in large text or Braille, security passwords and an annual gas safety check
b. Grants for free home insulation
c. Flexible payment options for customers in fuel debt
d. Benefits entitlement checks.
The disconnection safety net is also in place to make sure that no vulnerable customer is knowingly cut off, even if they are unable to pay their bill.

• The Home Heat Helpline is managed by the Energy Retail Association and paid for by contributions from Britain’s major energy suppliers – see below.

• Energy suppliers have an obligation to deliver energy efficient measures to households via the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT). Since CERT began in April 2008 over 800,000 lofts and cavity walls have been insulated by energy suppliers, which is equivalent to every house in Birmingham, Nottingham and Leeds. Ofgem has reported positive progress on CERT (Feb 2009) by energy suppliers with 60% of carbon savings through insulation measures, 30% through lighting and a significant increase in micro-generation installations since the programme started in April 2008.

• The Energy Retail Association (ERA), formed in 2003, represents the major electricity and gas suppliers in the domestic market in Great Britain. All the main energy suppliers operating in the residential market in Great Britain are members of the association – British Gas, EDF Energy, E.ON, npower, Scottish Power, and Scottish and Southern Energy.