Reports

SUZANNE BARNINGHAM - Energy Savings Trust “Take Charge” 21st January.

Our speaker this week was Suzanne Barningham from the Energy Savings Trust who came to tell us about the national electricity grid, how it operates and how we can benefit from the various services it offers.
The company that operates near us is ‘electricity north west’ which is responsible for delivering electricity outside of our homes and Suzanne explained how they are working to cut down on the number of power cuts we have. She told us about the extra care register and invited us to fill in registration forms at the end of the meeting.

She was really enthusiastic and seemed to really care that we should all stay warm, giving us lots of tips about maximising the electricity we use to do this; using curtains not just blinds, using radiator foils, using dehumidifiers to dry our washing and many more. She was particularly sold on her electric throw blanket which costs 2p per hour to run.

Suzanne then went on to tell us about future predictions about the use of solar panels, electric vehicles, the use of heat pumps and the introduction of bi-directional electrical cars which can be used to charge house batteries in the event of power cuts. She talked about the variety of grants available to help with many of these developments and was happy to answer the many questions our group had for her at the end. She ended by offering members light bulbs which had a built in battery which charged when used and then continued to work during power cuts and seemed pleased by the number of members who then signed up for the extra care register.