Switch utilities

There is a general belief, these days, that opting for duel fuel will save in energy bill. But it is surprising to read a news article  that the people in Britton could save L314 million by using two different energy suppliers for gas and electricity.

According to Paul Schofield, head of utilities at moneysupermarket.com, by   spreading the energy providers the saving of money in gas and electricity has increased everywhere in the country other than south Wales and the belief, dual fuel is generally cheaper, is a misconception.

Based on a research estimates, by selecting Click Energy 3 of British Gas for electricity and Atlantic’s Standard Online for gas the consumers in  North Scotland can save over L21 a year. This is true for  regions except south Wales.

The above fact suggests that swapping of utility tariffs is more advantageous. Consumers should not hold back from swapping, in these days when the computers and internet have become handy. One  should explore the energy scene and select favourable tariffs forgetting about the duel fuel  formula.

Gas and electricity are the two main sources  of energy that form part of the present UK homes. It has been estimated  that the average  consumption electricity in an UK home is around  4.6 MWh and that of gas is 20MWh. In modern days there are a number of smart meters for accurate measurement of the electricity consumption. But the gas consumption is still measured using gas meters that were developed about 60 years ago. Although advanced smart gas meters have come in to existence, such meters are not preferred due to their high  cost, nearly three times the cost of existing meters. Replacing the huge number (more than 21.9 million)  of existing gas meters in the country  is considered to be not cost effective. The up gradation of existing meters with new technologies also is found  equally expensive

The government has now started evaluating the  effectiveness of the existing gas meters used in the UK homes and intends to provide smart meteres as soon as possible. As a follow up, Sentec,  a leading research organisation in UK has  come up with a new gas meter  that has been proved for its accuracy and durability. The new design is considered to be simple and comparable in  cost  to the existing meters.

Sentec in Cambridge, develops new technologies for the industry. They work for many global manufacturers in different sectors. They possess core competence in gas, water and electricity. They offer consultancy and contract services to the manufacturers.
In the existing gas meters two gas chambers are provided with bellows and the gas is made to pass through these chambers alternately. The alternating operation of bellows activate a counter and thus recording the volume of gas passing through the gas chambers. The proposed new technique is based on assessing  the volume of gas that pass through a measured  section of tube during a specified time period. This technique is considered to be more accurate and simple. This Lattice meter  provides better data to customer and also has inbuilt security against  meter tampering or cutting off supply during emergency situations like gas leakage etc..

It is understood that necessary technology demonstrations have already been carried out successfully.  Sentec  has  now,  taken up the issue with manufacturing units  to produce the new meters to match with the Government’s requirement of providing  smart meters by 2017 to all homes in UK. It is expected that the reduction in saving of gas energy would be of 10% after the introduction the meters with new technology.

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