Electricity use in the home

To meet the climate challenge we need to electrify home heating and transport to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels such as gas and oil. However, this increased demand will lead to increased pressure on our electricity grid and make it harder to balance demand and supply.

What can we all do to reduce our electricity demand and shift it away from peak times, when electricity supply is more carbon intensive?

Useful Resources

How much electricity do my household appliances use?

 

How can I cut costs, cut cold and cut carbon?

See our briefing Home Energy Solutions

How can I check heat loss in my home?

The CHEESE project, which received a grant from our Community Fund, carry out thermal imaging surveys to identify where your home is losing heat and suggest possible remedies.

How can we electrify home heating and transport in a way that better manages demand on the grid?

Our Flex Community project is integrating electric home heating and electric vehicle charging with smart technology and a community approach to provide flexibility when the electricity grid requires demand to be turned up or down.

How green is my energy?

The National Grid in partnership with WWF and others have developed a free app which shows you when the ‘greenest’ time to use electricity is and offers real-time information on how power is currently being generated. Watch the short video to find out more

Western Power Distribution have produce the Carbon Tracer app which you can download onto a smart phone. You can use this to check what the energy mix is in your postcode based on regional data. It also provides some sub station data.

Carbon tracing

The Carbon Tracer app from Western Power Distribution enables you to check what the energy mix is in your postcode based on regional data.

What are Time of Use electricity tariffs?

These are tariffs where you pay less outside times of peak demand, such as early evening. The best known tariff is Octopus Agile, but there are several others aimed mainly at EV owners.

What are smart meters?

Smart meters measure household energy use in real time are essential for demand management, especially for time of use tariffs. 

See the Centre for Sustainable Energy for an overview, including smart meter myths.

Smart Energy GB

Smart Energy GB is the independent national campaign for smart meter roll out, and has further information on issues such as security and data sharing

General resources on cutting our carbon footprints