- Jade Price
Heat or eat? How YOU can help your tenants save money
Some of our competitors say their products can identify fuel poverty in your properties, but is this enough? Here at Vericon Systems we have ensured our devices can help you actually make a difference to your tenants’ lives, remotely.
Our competitors can simply tell you about the temperature in your properties, but does this accurately point to a fuel poverty scenario and how does this information help your tenants in practice?
By using Vericon Systems products you are able to remotely tell if someone is living in one room, what the temperature of that room is compared to the rest of the property, if a tenant is using the boiler for hot water only or if they are using hot water at all. This information combined with telemetry on how efficient the boiler is running, if it is using preheat, and the ability to remotely improve boiler running efficiency allows you to really help your tenants in need.
All of this, and more, is possible with devices from Vericon Systems.
Want to find out how the system can help you? Book a free, no obligation demo, or get I touch via email or on 01242 582555.
With the increase in the Energy Price Cap, the average household energy bill will hit £3,549 a year from 1st October 2022. EDF has warned that half of the UK’s households could plummet into Fuel Poverty this winter. With energy bills predicted to be three times higher than last year, it is no surprise that increasing numbers of households are struggling to heat their homes adequately, many making the choice between heat or eat.
This current cost of living crisis has occurred due to to a mixture of factors, including increasing oil prices causing a subsequent rise in the fuel energy cap, and inflation rising to a 40-year high of 10.1%.
A new study by the University of York has predicted that two thirds of all UK households will be in fuel poverty by January 2023, with the elderly and most vulnerable being hit hardest. An estimated 86.4% of pensioner couples are expected to fall into fuel poverty along with 90.4% of lone parents with 2 of more children.
We are a matter of weeks and months away from this reality, so now is the time for social landlords to act to protect their tenants by using Vericon Systems’ connected devices in their properties. The combination of BCM and MultiDOT, can be deployed into properties to help understand not only when a tenant is in fuel poverty, but can also be used to help tenants, remotely.
Whether this is remotely understanding how and when boilers are being used, making the boiler run more efficiently, or lowering the heating set point to save your tenants money; Vericon Systems devices are the only solutions on the market that will actually help you help your tenants and manage the situation, remotely.
Alternatively, the Surveyor cube can be installed by a non-gas safe person to gain in-property environmental information in minutes.
Let us show you how our system works. We offer free, no obligation demos with our team so you can truly understand how we can help solve not only your fuel poverty issues, but also damp and mould, disrepair, access issues and much more!
What is fuel poverty?
Fuel poverty is defined in several ways. Before 2013, the definition of fuel poverty was that a household was considered to be in fuel poverty when it needed to spend more than 10% of its income on energy. This definition is still often used, alongside the more up to date definitions.
The new, up to date definition states that a household is said to be in fuel poverty if:
They have required energy costs that are above the national average
And
If they were to spend that amount, they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line.
Fuel poverty has three key drivers – Energy efficiency of a home, energy prices and income. With increased energy efficiency, reduced energy prices and increased income the risk of fuel poverty is lowered. With low energy efficiency, increased energy prices and lower incomes, the risk is increased.
