A bit of good news - Southern Rail have committed to keeping the secure bike parking at East Croydon station.
Big round of applause for @chrisgalpin.bsky.social who made this happen. Thank you Chris! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼
www.change.org/p/save-the-s...
Fantastic to see the Renters' Rights Act make it into law! Millions of renters can now feel far more secure in their homes, and don't need to face the constant threat of no-fault eviction.
Now with updated times and dates below!
Know someone in #Croydon who needs help with their energy bills, or advice on keeping warm?
@croydoncommenergy.bsky.social are offering free, expert energy advice - see below for details!
✨ Community in action! On Saturday we joined Archbishop Tenison’s School to celebrate the amazing improvements they’ve made to their buildings – including our newly installed solar panels ☀️⚡
#CommunityEnergy #Croydon #SolarPower #YouthInAction #RenewableEnergy #CommunityPower
I am once again saying that clean energy is inherently cheap, and the reason we don't benefit from that is because the energy market doesn't let us. Great stuff here from my colleague @chrisgalpin.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Want more detail on how we achieve the savings?
You can read our briefing in full here: www.e3g.org/publications...
There is huge potential here for energy bill savings - but only if the UK acts on the recommendations.
Heat pumps do come with a higher up-front cost - but maximising running cost savings unlocks more options to finance those upfront costs and deliver long-term savings
Step 4 - Ensure consumers can access cheaper off-peak electricity
Making sure consumers can access the benefits of cheaper "off-peak" renewable electricity has the potential to reduce heat pump bills by a further ~£175 per year.
Step 3 - Drive up installed heat pump performance
Heat pumps are very efficient (~280%+ compared to a gas boiler at ~90%). But many installations could be even better.
Increasing average installed efficiency to 350% could reduce average heat pump bills by another ~£140 per year
Step 2 - Reform the electricity system to bring down electricity costs
Clean Power 2030 is a good start, but there's more we could be doing to clamp down on excess profits and reduce electricity prices.
See e3g.org/publications... for more on this!
Step 1 - Remove levies from electric heating.
Introducing a levy-free Affordable Electric Heating Tariff could reduce electric heating bills by over £150 per year.
We shouldn't tax people to heat their homes. As more people switch to electric heating, this must be addressed.
So - how do we make sure low carbon heating delivers lower heating bills?
These actions would also substantially reduce bills for households with less efficient forms of electric heating.
As we set out in our blog earlier this year, these households are among some of the poorest in the country.
www.e3g.org/news/the-uk-...
We set out four recommendations for government - in total, these could slash the average UK heat pump bill to ~£375 per year.
That's over £445 per year LESS than the current average gas heating bill.
Instead, we need to insulate homes and install efficient forms of electric heating, like heat pumps.
Heat pumps can already be cheaper to run than a gas boiler in some cases. But government needs to act to make heating bill reductions accessible to the average household.
Moving away from fossil gas is the ONLY credible, long-term option to reduce heating bills.
It is not economical to expand UK gas production - doing so risks pushing up bills even further.
NEW @e3g.bsky.social analysis - Heat pumps have potential to *halve* UK heating bills.
But policies need to change if these savings are to be accessible to the mass market 🔌💡
www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Croydon Community Energy finally installed solar panels on our first community building!
A huge thanks to all our investors, members and volunteers who are leading the way for community energy in Croydon!!
#croydon #communityenergy #croydoncommunityenergy #renewableenergy #sustainability
We have two paid opportunities you can apply for at the moment (the deadlines are quite tight but we only discovered these opportunities very recently!)
For more information and to apply by 5th September, click here: www.croydoncommunityenergy.co.uk/work-with-us
Fantastic to have been selected as a Labour candidate for Addiscombe East, together with @maddiehenson.bsky.social .
Looking forwards to delivering positive change for #Addiscombe, and working with @rowennadavis.bsky.social to transform Croydon into a council which puts #PeopleFirst.
It’s time for households to do one quick check to ensure those eligible get £150 off your bill this winter
The #WarmHomeDiscount now covers more than 6 million households
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Great to join @rowennadavis.bsky.social and @maddiehenson.bsky.social visiting some of our amazing local businesses in Addiscombe - pictured here with the brilliant Alfredo at Farrago Fish.
The real sense of community here is what keeps our local high street thriving.
To really put a dent in energy bills, govt should extend this to *all* electric heating.
We set out in our latest blog how electrically heated homes are twice as likely to face fuel poverty
www.e3g.org/news/the-uk-...
With new affordable tariffs, modern forms of electric heating would at last offer reliably cheaper bills than fossil fuels. Aligning climate action with action to bring down energy bills.
For clean power to mean lower heating bills, government needs to act:
💲 Removing levies from electricity used for heating
🛠️ Supporting households to modernise their heating
🔌 Introducing an Electricity Bills Charter (www.e3g.org/publications...)
Cheap, clean power should be lowering bills for electrically heated households. But right now, they are blocked from feeling the benefits.
Many electric heating systems are also out of date. They need to be updated with "smart" systems that can run at off-peak times - making better use of cheaper, off-peak renewable electricity.
Electric heating users pay much more in levies and taxes than gas heating users. This artificially inflates costs - and slows progress towards decarbonisation.
My colleague James published a great piece on this back in 2023 - www.e3g.org/publications...
But outdated policies mean that even where households switch to these more modern technologies, they are still not getting the cheaper bills they deserve.
