AFP, published on Friday, December 30, 2022 at 07:24
No longer heating during the day, buying an electric blanket instead of turning on the radiator in the room or even moving: the British do everything they can to limit their energy consumption and not get lost financially in rising bills.
In flat shares, which are common in big cities and especially in London given the astronomical rent levels, relationships are complicated by the different lifestyles and income levels, forcing the flatmates to make compromises.
“This winter we expect 7 million households in the UK to fall into fuel poverty. This means they will no longer have enough money to heat their homes to an acceptable level,” explains Simon Francis, Coordinator for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition , AFP.
In Britain, electricity bills have doubled since the start of the war in Ukraine and inflation is approaching 11%.
“No matter how much you earn, everyone is going to feel this cost of living crisis, although obviously the people on the lowest incomes are suffering the most. (…) This can clearly create tensions between roommates,” adds Simon Francis.
After staying mild for most of autumn, temperatures suddenly fell below freezing in mid-December before rising slightly again.
The radiators have gone out and the painful winter bills are beginning to hit. The UK government has put in price protection of £2,500 for an average household a year, but at this level bills are still doubling over a year.
Millions of families find themselves in extreme precarity and have to choose between heating, food or clothing.
In shared apartments, few residents have escaped the current “discussion” (“the conversation”) about how to go about cutting bills.
– Aggressive Passives –
At Joe’s, a 33-year-old teacher living in east London, he and his five roommates have decided to turn off the heat in the bedrooms.
They keep it in the living room where two of them telecommute. You now turn on an electric heater during the day instead of heating the whole room.
At Julie’s house, a journalist, the roommates have decided not to heat during the day, except when it’s really cold, like just before Christmas.
Points of friction arise, such as those who bring their lover home frequently but don’t pay more, or those who have more income and don’t pay much attention.
“There were a few passive-aggressive texts from one of my roommates asking us to remember to turn off the lights when we left,” says Joe.
“The problem for those who live in shared flats is not just the difference in income,” but the rents including utilities, notes Simon Francis. As a result, those who make savings efforts don’t necessarily get the benefits.
Landlords also sometimes suddenly raise rents to pass on increased energy costs… and tenants can no longer keep up, having to move when the housing market has become very difficult to find after the lockdown.
When looking for a new home today, energy efficiency is an essential criterion, while before, few cared about it.
Simon Knoplioch, a 29-year-old Frenchman who works in finance in London, explains that he has recently moved and has been looking for a modern building with his friends. “We asked for the energy performance certificate of the building. The building we are in is a new build.”
“We used to live in an energy sieve. At the moment the rents are so high” and the competition for apartments is particularly strong, which means that “the owners have no interest in taking on the work” of the insulation, he complains.
Efforts to save energy are also going well elsewhere in Europe: According to Eurostat, gas consumption in the European Union fell by 20% from August to November compared to the previous five years.