Households go green to boost the household budget
Research by M&S Bank at the start of this year’s ‘Big Energy Saving Week’ has revealed that most British homeowners (78 per cent) are concerned with energy efficiency around the home with the majority (69 per cent) saying this is for cost saving reasons – up 19 per cent on last year – compared with 28 per cent who were concerned for environmental reasons.
Of those who were concerned about the energy efficiency of their home, 96 per cent were more or equally concerned this year than they were in 2015
Paul Stokes, Head of Products at M&S Bank, commented: “As well as benefitting the environment, ‘going green’ can also help homeowners make significant savings.”
Nearly all homeowners (98 per cent) usually undertake at least one simple environmentally-friendly measure and 88 per cent have already had at least one energy efficient improvement made to their home.
UK top five energy saving habits and improvements:
Energy saving measures
1 87% - Recycle (e.g. metal, glass, plastic etc.)
2 86% - Switch off the lights when not in the room
3 81% - Use energy efficient light bulbs
4 72% - Turn the heating off when I'm not in
5 55% - Switch off appliances fully rather than leaving them on standby
‘Green’ Home improvements
1 72% - Double/ triple glazing
2 70% - Loft insulation
3 52% - An energy efficient boiler
4 9% - Solar panels
5 1% - A wind turbine
Looking further ahead, the top energy efficiency home improvements for homeowners who haven’t made them already included installing solar panels (27 per cent), an energy efficient boiler (21 per cent) or a wind turbine (9 per cent).
Paul Stokes continued: “It’s great to see that, homeowners recognise the benefits of making just a few simple, everyday changes to be more environmentally friendly. Over three-quarters have already made improvements to help them go green and with just over half (53 per cent) seriously considering some sort of future energy saving home improvement, it’s clear that green improvements are at the forefront of homeowner’s minds.”
When it comes to buying new electrical appliances, 15 per cent said they always buy products with the highest energy efficiency rating possible (A+++) and overall 49 per cent always buy products with an ‘A’ rating or above – a 12 per cent increase on last year.
76 per cent of British homeowners are aware of the energy efficiency ratings of their household appliances and over half (57 per cent) of these said that their appliances tended to have high energy efficiency ratings – 20 per up on last year – while 24 per cent had no idea about the energy efficiency ratings of their appliances.
Helping the nation to go green, M&S Bank provides green cover to its home insurance customers. This means that when a customer needs a replacement washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge, freezer or dishwasher, once their claim is approved, it will be replaced with a new ‘A’ rated energy efficient model at no extra cost.
In addition, if a policyholder’s home is severely damaged, requiring demolition and rebuilding, M&S Bank will make sure the work is carried out to level 4 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.