Episode 3: Liz Allan and Sally Cranham – How can we be sustainable in the current energy market?

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

People, energy, companies, warehouse, air source heat, utility, house, electric vehicle, podcast, government, home, bit, years, customers, full circle, insulated, education, usage, sustainable, residential.

SPEAKERS

Sally Cranham, Liz Allan

Liz Allan 00:14

Welcome to Electric evolution. This podcast is about the journey to a more sustainable future, in order for us to be able to do our bit to achieve Net Zero, I’ll be discussing a variety of topics with experts in their field in order to educate and increase our knowledge of green energy, electric vehicles and the electric vehicle infrastructure. So whether you’re an individual wants to finish a small business or corporate, this podcast is just for you. On today’s podcast, I am talking to Sally Cranham, who is a utilities consultant from current utilities. So, Sally, welcome to electric evolution really pleased to see you again. We’ve met a couple of times, never, never face to face we’ve always met like this.

Sally Cranham  00:58

Yeah, its all been online

Liz Allan  01:01

One day we will meet.

Sally Cranham  01:04

I’ll be shorter than you think. And you’ll be taller than I think and you know.

Liz Allan  01:07

I’ll probably be wider than you think as well. So anyway, right. So start off with Can I get you just to kind of give a little bit of background to who you are, what you do and how you got into what you are currently doing?

Sally Cranham  01:23

Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you for having me. This is great. I think the more that people are speaking about all of this sort of stuff, the better because there’s so much confusing information out there. Yeah, so I started Current Utilities about a year ago but previous to that, I really just started as a residential consultant with Utility Warehouse, so I was learning a lot about the residential market, helping people simplify, save, and also look at some of the green options as well. So Utility Warehouse is who I use for my residential consultancy and then I use Full Power utilities for any commercial business. Energy utility needs as well. And I got into it mainly because there was I came back from America and I ended up back in the UK and I got introduced Utility Warehouse, and it’s, you know, it’s a social marketing kind of business. And I thought that could be really a great tool for me, especially just coming back from the States. And then of course, the pandemic hit, and everything went online, Utility Warehouse, actually very quickly to get everything online. Because the one thing that people did have was a bit more time was spending a lot more time at home and sort of reassess what actually living at home look like you know, they were using them overall. They were using more energy at home. And despite us having great weather that year of the first day did you know people were using air conditioning, whatever they were doing, they were getting to know their house more. And I was able to help people, you know, couple of customers a month and I learned a lot through the process as well with that especially.

Liz Allan 03:16

So so the work that you do just to explain a little bit about it, will you .

Sally Cranham  03:21

Yeah, absolutely. So we the residential side of things Utility Warehouse and everything I need online. So I bring in all the data I need from the consumer from the consumer the resident. We look at not only energy, but there’ll be broadband and other utilities as well. I look at the usage. I look at the standing day rate as you can look at the unit rate. Now so much has happened in the last two years. I mean the last six months when it comes to those rates actually look like there’s no such thing as a fixed rate right now because the government have done that. And then I sit with my customer and I I look across the whole board, what their consumption is like compared to the averages and give them guidance in a few tools that they could use to maybe cut that usage a bit. But ultimately, you know, Utility Warehouse, they have the cheapest energy on the market right now, which is a big claim, but they do and they’re the only ones taking new customers as well. So the state of the for the energy market especially. I think it says a lot about the company and the way they’ve they’ve handled things in the last couple of years especially

Liz Allan  04:39

So so are the other companies aren’t allowing new new customers then what just because of the fear of the market. At the Moment.

Sally Cranham  04:49

It’s hard to take on anyone new. I’m not saying this is from what I’ve I’ve been told and you go on some of the comparison websites and just there’s just not much there because not you can’t do much with the prices. You know because the government has set those those borders of what people can charge what and because Utility Warehouse are multiservice they’re able to draw in savings from other little places. And then you know, we give up to 5% off the government price cap anyway. So it’s kind of a no brainer to look at it. But that’s that’s a side note really. I know that places like octopus and you know bold bulbs been in its own conversation that’s been going on there. But you know, you’ve got a lot of small companies that are in that beginning of 2020 all the way through to 2021. I think we went from like 47 suppliers down to in the 20s the small companies were disappearing.

Liz Allan  06:01

Yeah, I mean, I was gonna say, we’re lucky that we kind of we were we were with Octopus and we locked in. This is not something that we normally do, but my husband locked us in until next June. So so actually we’ve kind of got our rate until Until next June. But obviously, there’s things that we want to do as a family, you know, kind of in the meantime to make sure that we’re we’re kind of being more sustainable. So our long term aim is, you know, I mentioned this to you before I didin’t I, to get air source heat pumps. And solar panels and an electric vehicle. But it’s not it’s not something we can do overnight because we just don’t have that money to kind of play with at the moment so So how would you say that somebody’s kind of not necessarily in our situation because we’re probably you know, in a better situation. And so, how do you try and be sustainable in a situation in a market that we’re in at the moment, what can you do? What can we do in our houses at the moment to save energy? Have you got any thoughts on that?

Sally Cranham  07:08

Well, yes, I definitely have some thoughts on that. And just to sort of tag off what you’ve just said that I think and what you’re doing here on the podcast, it’s the education piece. It really is. And as you say, people are wanting to be more green there is the desire there. The media is all over it. The government’s are over it. Whatever you think about Greta Thunberg anybody is over it, you know, we’re all trying to gather pieces of information. And they say that, you know, funding the changes in your home to solar and EV and all of those things will cost up to about 20 grand if not more than sides of the house. So yeah, I totally understand that. It’s, it’s just not it’s not possible for people to just do that straightaway. But there are things that people can be doing. LED lights if you haven’t looked at all of your light bulbs in your house, and you’ve just got a few that are still working off the old system. Yes. They’re sucking up energy. They’re using a lot of energy. I mean, I grew up in a house and this was before we had a crisis of energy. Where switch off the lights when you leave a room. I’ve known that for 30 years.

Liz Allan  08:21

I know what you’re saying

Sally Cranham  08:22

We were conscious about it then, but it’s so interesting where we are now. Of course there’s energy efficient, like appliances for the home, but just even putting them fully off instead of on standby can make a big difference. I think it’s about seeing the very little things. They look very little but they add up. Yeah, yeah, that’s, that’s the key to it all. We were talking a little bit before about the it’s a plastic double glazing basically that you can do it so weatherproofing kind of thing that you stick around the whole frame. And then it’s like this film that you put on there and then you hairdryer it on the window. Yeah. Like around the frame and then it becomes a taut extra layer on your windows which I just think is brilliant. I mean, obviously using that in a draughty house 10 years ago so that’s really good. And then something that a lot of companies now offer of course are the smart metres.

Liz Allan  09:29

We’ve just got one.

Sally Cranham  09:31

Oh, have you?

Liz Allan  09:32

Oh my god, Everytime we put the kettle on. We’re kind of going to see, right how much is it costing u. And my husband’s will be sat because we just happen to have it where we’re usually sat in the dining room. We probably go right, what’s turned on now so and we make sure we do turn things off like the telly at night. You know, like tellys these days. They seem to automatically just go on standby, don’t they? Rather than being able to turn them off. So we’ve got a new TV because we had a lightning strike a few months ago on the close where we’re living and it blew our Telly it blew quite a few things in the close broadband you name it just so much stuff. But what’s it got this new telly and now you can’t turn it off so we luckily we can get to the plug socket to turn it off at night. But when we watch honestly, it’s kind of one of those things that how are we spending 45p. You know, we’re trying to go round to the turn things off and it is things like that because the smart metre might not be 100% accurate, but it does make sense doesn’t it to actually be able to see what energy you’re using when you put the kettle on. Or when you have the toaster on or even you know when you’ve got the dishwasher or the washing machine or things like that and it’s just looking at those those costs on a daily basis. Isn’t it

Sally Cranham  10:45

it’s totally the awareness thing, the consumer habits that that just need that small tweak. And I think that’s why smart metres really started to make people think more because Exactly. They were seeing that if they went for a shower. Oh my goodness. It just cost them £1.49 You know, whatever it was and that’s more now if you the energy prices have doubled since last Christmas.

Liz Allan  11:11

Is it double? Oh my goodness, I knew it had gone up a lot. Oh my goodness.

Sally Cranham  11:16

You know, from 2021 to 2022. We’ve it’s been a drip feed of the increase. But now we look at it as a whole. That’s a huge amount of money. That’s a huge shift of I know. It’s crazy. It blows my mind.

Liz Allan  11:31

So that’s why I’m so glad we’re locked in but I mean after we this is the whole reason why, you know, kind of looking at other sustainable sources because because as I’ve told you, I’m married to a professor of climate change at reading uni. So it’s really important for us as a family, but not just me, not just not just a family, but as for me personally, I’m a business improvement training consultant. So actually, I want to make sure that we’re making these improvements as a family and that we’re being sustainable, because it just it’s the right thing to do. But again, financially, it’s not it’s not doable for everyone. So it’s just it’s little things, isn’t it? You know, like, I know you’re saying about the stuff around the window. He was my husband was kind of so we’ve got a new front door last year and that’s made a massive difference because that was horrendous. The old door just used to shake in the frame where my my teenage son kind of went out the door and the whole thing and go rattle rattle rattle. And it was just like, oh my god, you know, but we’ve got a new we’ve got the new front door but we’re gonna get some hopefully get some new windows but again, like I say, if people can just do little things, you know, or do you know if there’s a Are there any subsidies for insulation anymore because there used to be a little while ago didn’t there.

Sally Cranham  11:32

I? I don’t fully know, but I do believe there are still some on the government website or installation for the double glazing thing. I mean, to be honest, if they’re encouraging everybody to try and achieve all the goals that they’re trying to achieve, they’ve got to be something there’es got to be help. We live in a country where we have houses that are hundreds of years old. It’s not like America, where they built these cobbled houses. That you know, a reasonably better were insulated than the average UK home. I mean, I’m at my my dad’s house right now is a huge, huge house. It’s very old. It’s very, you know, it’s not got double glazing,

Liz Allan  13:27

And they’re difficult to heat, aren’t they as well because that’s the good thing about about being in a house. You know, that’s that old, even our house our houses from the 1950s. But, you know, it does let out, you know, if even with an air source heat pump from what I understand about those, I’m going to be talking to people about that as well over the course over the course of the podcast, even air source heat pumps you but you need to be insulated in the first place. But I think the biggest thing is to keep the heat in is to try and find ways of insulating and making sure that you’ve got no drafts coming in but it’s not always that easy. But my husband’s got like this little infrared thermometer thing. So he’s gonna go around the house we’ve decided he’s going to go around the house and actually when it’s first thing in the morning, it’s really cold and work out where if you can see which you know where the where it’s where the drafts are coming in.

Sally Cranham  14:16

Yeah. Okay. And so you have those cameras, don’t they outside of homes that you can see where the heat is leaking as well. Which I think all of those industries and you’re seeing it as well because a lot of these industries that have started as green companies or offer these green is you know, initiatives. They’re They’re hot topic and they’re growing quickly, and here they are and they’re you know, that’s when you go in and help people figure out their systems. But all of these companies are in a space of exponential growth because researching, you know, what are the top few things on Google I’d be really interested to have a look.

Liz Allan  14:54

Absolutely. I mean, we know we’ve got it from you know, when it oh my god, I can’t believe we’re in December. If people are watching this or listening to this now, we’re recording this in November and it’s actually I can’t believe it feels like it should still be June. You know, it’s just it’s just kind of where we’ve got seven years, haven’t we to get to net zero 2013 But at the moment while we’re talking COP 27 is on so I’m really hoping that there’s gonna be some good things come out of that. But you know, we’ve got seven years so these all of these companies that are introducing you know, clean energy initiatives and electric vehicle and after electrification it’s, it’s gonna grow massively so, so yeah, it’s gonna be a hot topic is gonna keep being a hot topic. Obviously, the topic for a note for seven years to come. It’s about it’s about you know, understand i My, my aim of this podcast is to try and get this information out to people what they can do. It may be something small, you know, because actually in the long term, it’s going to make a difference to them and their families. Or them and their businesses

Sally Cranham  14:55

Absolutely and also back in the day, you know, when you put solar in, you know, they would say then you’ll get your money back in 25 years. Well, now it’s it’s, it’s as low as four years, depending on the situation that time frame has come is shortened so much. And, you know, with all with all the big things going on with governments and all of that, that’s fine, but we’re the ones at home paying for our energy on a day to day basis. Yes, it’s about education. I don’t think it’s about guilt tripping. I just think it’s about the education piece. And, you know, that horrible term that’s going around but you know, some of the companies that do exist are greenwashing. They’re saying they’re doing something but in reality, it’s it’s very small. I mean, I think that’s what I’ve liked about Utility Warehouse is their new brand ambassador is Ben Fogle. So he’s got a passion for that environmental sustainable energy thing anyway. And as a company for them to choose someone like that. I just think it sort of tells me a little bit how they work behind the scenes as well. You know, getting a decent chance involved with that sort of thing. And yeah, well I mean, as, as a company with utility warehouse we can offer up to 100% 100% renewable energy depending on you know, the bundles that you take and things like that. And there are companies do and I know that like people like octopus have, you know, certain deals for electric vehicles and so we you know, it’s it really is just about education and and seeing what’s best for you and what’s the best fit for you.

Liz Allan  17:04

No, education is really important when it comes to this because like I say, there’s such a lot of information out there and it’s hard to break through the noise sometimes. And like I said, even being married to who I’m married to, and doing what I do, you know, it’s a job. It’s still a bit like, oh my god, I just need to I want to be able to understand and educate not just myself but my family, my business and other people. And if you know if I can, if we can all learn from that, then, you know, we’re all starting to kind of start steps, you know, stepping forward. It’s what we call I don’t know whether you can see behind my head I’ve got that little thing. Called, which is basically small changes. It’s all about it’s a Japanese word for small improvements. So that’s, that’s what it’s that’s what it’s about. That’s what we should be trying to do. Yeah.

Sally Cranham  18:29

Now, I tend to agree with you, Liz.

Liz Allan 18:33

Let me just check if I’m sure I’ve got other questions to ask you and we just we could I could probably chat to you for absolutely ages. So yeah, okay. Actually, you know what, what I’d like to ask you is, so if people do want to switch so obviously, they wait, like I said to you were locked in until until June next year, but if there are people that want to switch, how do they come to you to switch? What would they need to do in order in order to kind of move how do they how can they move to you and Utility Warehouse? How do they contact you in the first place?

Sally Cranham  19:05

Well, I have a website www.currentutilities.co.uk And I’m on Instagram and all of those kinds of things. And it really is as simple as a quick phone call. Send me your energy bill, mainly because I need to look at your consumption figures, estimated annual usage, all of that sort of thing. And then I gather details from other things you’re spending our money on so your broadband, your mobiles, your insurances, things like that. And then we just sort of look at the bigger picture and see what the savings could be. The more that you put under the Utility Warehouse umbrella. When you take all the services you’re getting guaranteed 100% renewable energy, and they plant trees where every customer that joins, they worked with the Woodland Trust, but they’re also sort of very passionate about, like enhancing the biodiversity of areas and we live in a world where it’s full cycle full circle, right? As your as your circle, everything impacts everything else and as you say it’s small things. So yeah, I’m just available on an email or a quick call and you send me your bills and then we have a quick chat and you can be switched over within 20 minutes. So and also the companies are much quicker at switching providers now like two to five days. It used to be you’d have to wait a month but now it’s much, much shorter, which is good.

Liz Allan  20:39

Oh brilliant. So you basically are looking you look at the kind of the lowest rate that they can that that consumer can get then

Sally Cranham  20:46

Yeah, and I also discussed their usage, so into a house in the middle of summer that had all their lights on. And I was like okay, and then they have underfloor heating. And yeah, well, they didn’t hold on, but they they didn’t have a concept of what all those things might mean and how it might impact their bill. That sounds a bit silly, but they just weren’t thinking about it. Now I do live in an area which is quite affluent, so I’m dealing with people that have swimming pools or hot tubs or literally sucking the life. You know the energy that it takes to run these things. So I do go in with my big pink bright jumper and my bolshy self and I say guys, let’s just have a look at this in a bigger picture kind of way and try and change a few habits and yeah,

Liz Allan  21:43

You know what, you just hit the nail on the head. Besides education. It is about habit changing, isn’t it? It’s like as you know, like I say turning off electrics you know, at night as much as we can. Because we kind of had to do that. Once we got hit by lightning. It’s sort of put us off a little bit.

Sally Cranham  22:00

You can use that lightning energy, put it into a battery and then sponsor your whole villages energy for the next year.

Liz Allan  22:08

Would have been great. Obviously good this way. But But yeah, it’s there’s there’s so that I think there are lots of things that we can actually do. But listen, I wanted to just say thank you ever so much for your time. So I’ll put all the contact details on on well, so this is going to be on YouTube and it’ll also be audio podcasts or while we’ll provide all your details. If there’s anything else you want to share, then just let me know. And I’ll do that once it’s live. So thank you, Sally.

Sally Cranham  22:38

That will be lovely. We’re definitely where we’re at maybe

Liz Allan 22:41

Exactly. And we’ve also got singing in common but you do it more professionally, don’t you?

Sally Cranham  22:44

Oh that’s another story.

Liz Allan  22:47

Thank you then Cheers. Bye.

Liz Allan  22:51

Thanks for listening to Electric evolution with Liz Allan. If you want to find out more about Full Circle Continuous Improvement, please visit us at www.fullcircleci.co.uk don’t forget to keep listening for more episodes. coming up really soon.