Oftec

Big Energy Saving Week: Households given fuel bill saving advice

Big Energy Saving Week: Households given fuel bill saving advice

Households across the United Kingdom are being encouraged to take steps to reduce their energy usage and save money on their fuel bills as part of a nationwide campaign.

Big Energy Saving Week (21st - 27th January), organised each year by Citizens Advice, aims to raise awareness of the simple steps we can all take to lower our energy bills through being more energy efficient.

OFTEC, which represents the oil heating industry, and the Federation of Petroleum Suppliers (FPS), the trade association for oil distributers, are official partners of Big Energy Saving Week and are encouraging oil households in the UK to think about their current energy consumption as well as offering money saving advice. 

Despite recent small increases in price, oil heated households in the UK continue to enjoy the cheapest fuel bills of all the main off-grid heating systems and are paying on average nearly £500 less than homes using LPG and over £800 less than those with electric storage heaters.

However, in the cold winter months, there are still ways households can reduce their spending costs even further, without having to turn down the heating.

Is your heating system ready for round two with the ‘Beast from the East’?

Is your heating system ready for round two with the ‘Beast from the East’?

With what it is meant to be the coldest winter in a decade, OFTEC are issuing advice on how to make sure you and your family stay warm this winter, especially in oil heated homes.

Oftec Encourages Youths to Start a Career in the Heating Industry.

Recent studies show there has been a 27% decrease in the number of new apprenticeships started between August and October 2017 in comparison to the same period last year. Only 0.2% were in the heating industry. 

This drop in apprenticeships is in spite of the new government scheme to promote on the job training and a large number of jobs available in the sector for qualified engineers due to the lack of skilled technicians. 

With the rising costs of University and the increasing cost of living, apprenticeships are ever becoming a more viable option for further education and an easier transition into future employment. People are becoming aware of the benefits of hands-on training and experience in their chosen field. 

This year, as part of National Apprenticeship Week, local training centres were highlighting the opportunities an apprenticeship and then a consequent career in the heating industry can bring. The initiative aimed to help young people start various careers through apprenticeships. 

Households could be missing out on significant fuel bill savings

Households could be missing out on significant fuel bill savings

With the warm weather hopefully on its way, households 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 cut energy costs over the warmer months:

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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. Abbey Boilers do LPG, Gas and Oil annual services