Home Energy Assessments

digitalvibe

We live in a Grade II listed flat in Central London and our energy bills have always been suspiciously high (well before the current crisis). Is anyone aware of any services that will come to your home and run tests to determine where you're loosing heat, what's consuming the most energy, make recommendations regarding most effective insulation etc?

FreeBear

Your local council may have a Warm Homes team that might be able to do an energy survey and make some recommendations. But you may find their services are aimed at low income households. If you have the money, there are plenty of companies offering surveys for a fee. Can't comment on the effectiveness or quality of advice though...

Being a Grade II building, you will be limited on what can be done, so no uPVC windows or external wall insulation. Any changes would have to be cleared with the local Conservation Officer by way of a Listed Building Consent application - You could probably get secondary double glazing without any trouble. Internal wall insulation may be more of a fight to get through, but still worth trying.

Assuming a suspended timber floor, whacking a load of fibreglass insulation under the boards will cut some heat loss assuming there are no heated rooms below. Doing the same with the ceiling probably isn't an option, especially if the plaster is original.

macman

You don't need an assessor to tell you which appliances use the most energy. Every single electrical appliance has a rating plate stating what it draws at peak, or you can buy a plug in monitor for about £20 to check on actual consumption. Up to 80% of your annual usage will be heating and hot water.
Secondary double glazing is probably going to make the biggest difference, if you don't already have it. Loft insulation if a top floor flat?
Cut down usage: LED bulbs, heat, hot water, and cook on gas, not electricity?

Robin9

digitalvibe said:

We live in a Grade II listed flat in Central London and our energy bills have always been suspiciously high (well before the current crisis). Is anyone aware of any services that will come to your home and run tests to determine where you're loosing heat, what's consuming the most energy, make recommendations regarding most effective insulation etc?

Can we have some numbers please - in kWh not £

pochase

Tapo P110 plug in monitor is currently on offer again for £9.99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Tapo-Monitoring-Required-P110/dp/B097YBXHTW/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1SCGC9BM7XR1T&keywords=p110&qid=1662193979&sprefix=,aps,63&sr=8-2

As you need to keep it plugged in for a few days to get detailed data for some of the appliances I recommend getting more than to get your survey done faster.

They double as smart plugs, so they will have a second live.

dunstonh

pochase said:

Tapo P110 plug in monitor is currently on offer again for £9.99

https://www.amazon.co.uk/TP-Link-Tapo-Monitoring-Required-P110/dp/B097YBXHTW/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1SCGC9BM7XR1T&keywords=p110&qid=1662193979&sprefix=,aps,63&sr=8-2

As you need to keep it plugged in for a few days to get detailed data for some of the appliances I recommend getting more than to get your survey done faster.

They double as smart plugs, so they will have a second live.

I can fully endorse the use of those.   Firstly by identifying your use and secondly, after that, being used for sockets that are not easy to reach (some kitchen sockets, behind the tv, behind desks etc)

I got my 18kWh daily use down to just over 8kWh per day with the help of these. However, 3.5kWh per day was due to the purchase of new machines to replace the ones identified as high users.  The rest was down to turning things off standby or changing the way we use them.