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2:00 AM 25th June 2022
lifestyle

UK Could Have Saved Billions On Energy If Rishi Redistributed Platinum Jubilee Money

 
Image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay
Image by Colin Behrens from Pixabay
Rishi Sunak set aside £28m to fund the festivities in last year’s budget - this was echoed in a parliamentary report released in March 2022.

VisitBritain reported that the Jubilee could bring a £1.2bn boost to the economy. However, the DCMS suggested the weekend of festivities still might not bring in enough revenue to outweigh the amount spent. The £28m cost does not account for the impact of a one-off extra bank holiday arranged on Friday.

Les Roberts, Content Manager at Bionic has provided a bit of insight into how much money we could have saved if some of this cash had been redistributed:
“We aren’t sure of the exact cash figure poured into the Jubilee, but UK government has estimated that combined expenditure and losses from the Jubilee will cost the nation around £2.3bn.

“The government has promised £15bn to protect households from rising living costs, but this isn’t enough. The energy price cap is expected to rise again as we approach the winter, and at that point the existing financial support will not be sufficient to protect the most vulnerable households and businesses.

“Instead of investing so heavily into the Jubilee, some of this funding could have gone towards helping vulnerable people from having to choose between ‘heat or eat’.

“It’s also worth noting that the universal payment of £400 to every household will end up going to households that may not need it. And those who own more than one home will get multiple payments.

"There’s no guarantee that this money will go to the people who need it most. Between this and the Platinum Jubilee expenses, vulnerable families and businesses are likely missing out on billions of additional funding towards rising energy costs.”

Although everyday methods of reducing energy costs will not solve the wider energy crisis, Bionic have still provided some guidance on how we can try and keep costs down in the interim.

Some of the advice includes:

Assess When You’re Heating Your Premises

Most homeowners pay a standard tariff to heat their premises during the day as they do during the night, and could be wasting money by heating unused rooms during the day. You could save hours of energy by only heating the building when you need to. Simply set the timer on the thermostat to start the heating at certain times.

Another simple yet effective energy saving tip is to turn your heating down by one degree. Just taking your thermostat down a notch is a quick way to start saving fast and you probably won’t even notice the tiny temperature difference. This one small action only takes seconds to carry out and could potentially slash your heating bills by as much as 10%.

Switch Appliances Off

Do you notice that you tend to leave appliances on standby rather than switching them off completely? When appliances are left on standby, they’re still using energy, which essentially wastes energy and money. Switching appliances completely off to help cut your gas and electricity costs.

Pay Attention To The Weather

Take a closer look at your thermostats and adjust them according to the weather conditions outside. If it’s a warmer, sunnier day and rooms don’t need to be heated, then turn the thermostat down and you’ll be saving money in no time.