A solar energy farm in Whittlesey. ENGEMN00120120611152648A solar energy farm in Whittlesey. ENGEMN00120120611152648
A solar energy farm in Whittlesey. ENGEMN00120120611152648

Peterborough households are using less energy than five years ago

Households in Peterborough are consuming less energy than five years ago.

Greenpeace and the Energy Saving Trust said a drop in electricity consumption nationally was good news for the environment, but that there is more to do in improving our energy efficiency.

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy data reveals that Peterborough families consumed 3,640 kilowatt hours (kWh) on average in 2019 – the equivalent of running around nine fridge-freezers each over the year.

That was 6.3 per cent down from 3,886 kWh in 2015 – the same as the East of England’s average drop over the period.

Despite an increase in the number of domestic electricity meters, from 81,500 in 2015, to 85,300 last year, there was a drop of three per cent in the total amount of electricity sold in Peterborough.

The data is based on the aggregation of meter readings and does not include electricity consumed directly from on-site generation, such as that generated by solar panels.

Across Great Britain, households consumed 7.6 per cent less electricity than in 2015.

The biggest decrease was in Scotland (-12.4 per cent), while the East of England lagged behind in reduction (-6.3 per cent).

Sam Chetan-Welsh, from Greenpeace UK, said: “The more efficient we get with our energy use, the better chance we stand of cleaning up the supply and saving ourselves from catastrophe.”

There is further scope for society to reduce its electricity consumption and boost employment by insulating homes, he added, and continue to improve electrical goods’ efficiency through better product design.

A spokesman for Energy Saving Trust said reduction in electricity demand would help in the transition to a low carbon society.

“One of the leading environmental issues with electricity production is the emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels in power stations.

“Carbon emissions from electricity production have fallen in the last decade.

“This is because fossil-fuelled power stations, in particular coal, have gone offline and there has been a huge increase in renewably-powered generation from wind farms, local renewable electricity generation including those from solar PV panel systems.

“Hopefully, our future will look to electricity as a key environmental source of energy to not only power our homes, devices, appliances and lights, but also to charge our electric cars and heat our home with heat pumps.”