Consumers should cut down on their electricity and gas use this winter, the chief of energy regulator Ofgem has said.
Jonathan Brearley told Energy UK’s conference that “all of us should be thinking about how to reduce our energy use where possible”.
Mr Brearley referenced Nesta’s boiler challenge, which is encouraging customers to lower the flow temperature on their boilers.
“If many of us do this, this can save billions of pounds of her majesty’s treasury,” Mr Brearley said.
He said that Ofgem will soon be launching a campaign to teach customers how they could reduce their energy consumption.
He referenced energy saving measures such as “only have heating on when required, only have lights on when you leave the room”.
He warned that the sector was “heading into a winter in the middle of a major European land war” and accused Russia of “using gas as a geopolitical weapon”.
Opening his speech, Mr Brearley said: “This has been quite a year. I know this industry and, most importantly, our consumers have been through difficult time.
“Unprecedented is a word too often used for energy in 2022, but I genuinely cannot think of a time that produced such great challenges.”
Referring to the current energy crisis, Mr Brearley insisted: “We must make sure that this never happens again.”
He said that the UK must continue “reducing our exposure to international gas markets”.
It comes after Emma Pinchbeck, chief executive officer at Energy UK, the trade association for the energy industry, said that No 10’s failure to roll-out an energy-saving campaign was “baffling”.
More to follow…
