The EMR proposals are, of course, only half of the customer story anyway. While we cannot afford to ignore the ‘big energy world’ of new power stations, it is clear that the ‘small energy world’ of micro-generation and energy efficiency in people’s homes and businesses is also becoming ever more important. For example, for domestic customers, we launched “Energy Fit”, encouraging customers to use less, rather than more, energy. For the first time, every homeowner in this country, whether an E.ON customer or not, can complete a simple online survey to receive bespoke, effective and affordable advice on how to insulate their home, moderate their energy use and even generate their own electricity. Tens of thousands of families have already taken part and this just shows there is a real appetite from many of us, domestic customers, to want to change, to want to control their bills and to want to play their own part in saving energy.
And, as well as helping individuals change how they use energy, we’re also helping the councils and authorities that manage our towns and cities change the way they use energy to make the UK a truly sustainable country. For example, in the last few months alone we’ve unveiled ground breaking partnerships with some of the UK’s most forward thinking cities. In Stoke-on-Trent, the agreement between E.ON and the city council will see millions of pounds of investments made to improve the energy efficiency of homes and renewable power used to
help drive down residents’ fuel bills, while also combating climate change.
The first stage of those agreements saw us provide solar panels to council properties within weeks of the deal being signed – this is the first time any of the council’s 19,000-strong housing stock will be part powered by renewable technology. Further elements of the first phase involve 1,000 council and privately-owned houses across the city benefiting from a range of measures, after undergoing individual property surveys, so that each home receives a bespoke solution. The measures include items that will help insulate, moderate and generate, such as external wall insulation, energy efficient boilers, solar panels, air source heat pumps and district heating schemes.
By helping customers to help themselves we can make a real difference to both emissions and energy costs. In addition, the new build sector offers much opportunity to make sure we avoid the mistakes of the past and that we embed sustainable energy solutions into communities from the word go. In Dalston Square, right in the heart of East London, over 500 homes and a public library have been developed by Barratt and E.ON not only to be top performing in terms of their energy efficiency but also part of a community heating scheme which could reduce carbon emissions by 25% and cut heating and hot water bills by up to 23%.
Decentralising energy is an important step forward and through schemes such as this, or through smaller local or individual micro-generation projects, we can begin to make our energy supply more diverse and, just as importantly, to lower carbon emissions, to ensure we can secure our energy
future.The next few months are crucial not just for the energy sector but for the whole country. As discussions surrounding EMR continue and conclude we must also be clear that the nuclear events in Japan must result in careful consideration of the facts and respond accordingly. Just as the moves to a stronger market framework must be measured our responses to the nuclear accident and the lessons that must be learned must be well-judged and appropriate.
EMR is an opportunity to set in place a framework that will mean we optimise our country’s existing energy assets whilst setting a course for the future we must deliver. If we are clear about what we want and what it means it will also help customers. Customers need to understand where we are going and also what it will mean for them – not just aspirations around a distant policy goal. Through working with councils, businesses, the Government and individuals we can transform the way we approach energy in the UK and provide a future that benefits us all economically and environmentally. But in doing that we need always to keep customers at the heart of our thinking and, if we are to deliver and retain the necessary support of our customers, we must make sure that we listen as much as we talk.
|94| ENVIRONMENT INDUSTRY MAGAZINE
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