Households in Wales could be missing out on
significant fuel bill savings With the warm weather hopefully on its way, households in Wales are being urged to ‘spring clean’ their heating system to avoid missing out on significant savings. The recent
‘Beast
from the East’ double storm emphasised the importance of keeping your heating system in tip top shape. Now the weather has started to settle down, it’s a good time to check everything is working efficiently to ensure you make the most of the savings on your fuel bills during the warmer months. In response OFTEC, which represents the oil heating industry, has issued a spring cleaning checklist to help people in Wales cut energy costs over the warmer months: Adjust your heating timers. Check the heating is coming on at the correct time, especially if you changed the ‘On/Off’ times to heat your home for longer during the cold weather. Turn off individual radiators. Ensure you aren’t wasting money heating rooms you aren’t using. Also check the radiator temperatures in your main rooms if these were set higher during the cold weather. Make sure you have enough heating oil. You may have used more oil than usual during the prolonged cold snap. Check how much you have left and top up early to avoid any emergency deliveries. We recommend you use an FPS fuel supplier. Have your boiler serviced. The sub-zero temperatures this winter mean that your boiler and heating system will have been working very hard. Have the system checked over by a GasSafe (for mains gas) or OFTEC (for oil) registered technician who will ensure it is working correctly and to maximum efficiency. Malcolm Farrow from OFTEC, said: “During the unusually cold weather many households will have ramped up the use of their heating systems and made significant adjustments to the controls to keep warm, especially if they spent more time at home due to the snow. “It’s easy to forget about these changes and you might not even notice issues such as your heating coming on whilst you are asleep or out of the house. However, this oversight could be costing you quite a bit of money which is why we are reminding households of the benefits of making a few quick checks as part of a usual spring clean. “Boilers should also be serviced annually by a registered GasSafe or OFTEC technician to ensure maximum efficiency and realise cost savings. This is more important than ever following the extreme cold spell we have recently seen, where many of our registered technicians were called out to fix broken down boilers that hadn’t received a recent service. Having your boiler checked by a professional can
Malcolm Farrow, OFTEC identify potential issues before they
happen and help avoid facing the same difficulties next winter.” For more information and advice, visit www.
oilsave.org.uk.
www.cardiffandsouthwalesadvertiser.com Cardiff & South Wales Advertiser - Friday 13th April 2018 - 11
Charity appeals to public to survey endangered water voles
People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES) is calling on all wildlife enthusiasts to help monitor signs of the UK’s disappearing water voles as part of its annual National Water Vole Monitoring Programme. Affectionately portrayed as Ratty in childhood favourite Wind in the Willows, water voles were once a common sight along UK riverbanks and waterways. However, over the last century water voles have experienced the most severe decline of any wild mammal in the UK as they face threats from invasive American mink, habitat loss, agricultural intensification and river pollution.
In response to this dramatic decline, PTES launched the National Water Vole Monitoring Programme (NWVMP) in 2015, appealing to members of the public to help look for signs and sightings of water voles. The annual survey starts again on 15 April 2018 and runs until 15 June. Emily Thomas, Key Species Monitoring and Data Officer at PTES explains: “Volunteers are crucial to helping us collect robust data about the state of our water voles across the UK. We use the data gathered to monitor population trends year on year, which in turn help guide our conservation efforts and inform us where action is needed most.”
Over two hundred volunteers have taken part in the NWVMP since 2015, and last year volunteers collected data from 222 sites across England, Scotland and Wales, of which 82 had water vole signs present (48% of sites surveyed). The distribution of positive sites is encouraging, from Cornwall and Suffolk, up to the Highlands and across to the Isle of Anglesey. However, there are gaps in survey areas where PTES needs more help, including the South West, parts of Wales, southern Scotland and across the West Midlands. Volunteers are asked to survey one of the nearly 900 pre- selected sites across the UK, recording all sightings and signs of water voles along a 500m length of riverbank once during the course of the two-month period. Sites that are already being surveyed can also be registered with the NWVMP. Though no prior experience is required, volunteers will need to learn how to identify water vole field signs. A survey pack, including clear instructions on how to do your survey and a field signs ID guide, will be provided. To find out more, or to take part in PTES’s 2018 National Water Vole Monitoring Programme, visit:
www.ptes.org/watervoles If you want to support PTES’ ongoing conservation work, you can donate £3 by texting ‘PTES18 £3’ to 70070.
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