UK Government launches ‘It All Adds Up’ campaign to help save you money. But will it?

With heating costs rising through the roof (excuse the pun) are you doing all you can to reduce your energy bills?

The Government wants you to leave no stone unturned. So it’s put together a helpful website full of energy-saving tips that could help you save hundreds of pounds.

What is the ‘It All Adds Up’ campaign?

The UK Government launched the It All Adds Up campaign on 17 December 2022. Simply put, it’s a website full of energy-saving tips.

Doesn’t sound too ground-breaking, does it? At a reported cost of £18 million, it’s not going to have the impact of some other initiatives, like the £38 billion Energy Price Guarantee or the £12 billion Energy Bills Support Scheme.

But the It All Adds Up campaign isn’t intended to directly impact your bills. Instead, it’s been designed to simply raise awareness of the many ways people can reduce their energy usage and cut their bills. That’s no bad thing because the UK is home to some of Europe’s oldest and most inefficient housing stock.

The campaign will reach millions of people through an accompanying TV, radio and digital advertising campaign. Making people aware that there are lots of ways to make their homes more energy efficient is a welcome addition to other support measures.

What does the ‘It All Adds Up’ campaign include?

You can visit the campaign website to learn about 18 home energy-saving tips, including:

• How turning your combi boiler flow temperature down to 60°C could save you up to £100 a year.
• How insulating your hot water cylinder could save you up to £70 a year.
• How to track your energy usage using an app.

The tips are quite simple, but they’re presented clearly, and links are provided to additional information where needed.

If you’re looking for a more detailed home energy efficiency plan, we recommend using the Snugg platform. But if you’re just curious about some of the ways you could reduce your energy bills, the Government’s new website is a good place to start.

Does it all add up?

Of course, the UK Government wants homeowners to understand how to use their home energy more efficiently. But the underlying issue motivating the government is the cost of living crisis. The spiralling cost of energy has left millions of people struggling financially.

So the question is, how much could following all of the government’s advice save you?

According to the campaign website, the government claims you could make yearly savings of around:

• £350 by following their ‘no-cost’ tips
• £115 by following their ‘low-cost’ tips
• £1,285 by following their ‘spend-to-save’ tips

Some tips have higher pay-offs than others. For example, you could save around £100 in a year by simply turning down your boiler’s flow temperature. Meanwhile, you’d have to save around £455 for a few years in a row to see a positive return on installing solar panels on your roof - a good return if you plan on living in your home long-term (plus it should increase the value of your home when it comes to selling).

So there are tips for everyone, no matter your budget and no matter whether you’re looking to make immediate or long-term gains.

What’s Snugg’s verdict?

We think the It All Adds Up campaign is a positive step towards helping people save money on their heating bills and making their homes more energy efficient.

It’s also helpful that the campaign helps bring together different announcements, tools and financial support targeting households in the last six months. It’s been hard to keep track of everything, and this campaign will clarify all the support that’s out there.

We're glad the government recognises that changing habits and behaviours can reduce home energy consumption and bills. But for many people living in less energy-efficient homes, the best way to cut energy bills and combat climate change is to make long-term improvements to their homes.

So we recommend checking out the It All Adds Up website to see what tips you could implement today.

If you’re looking to make longer-term home efficiency changes, you can get a free personalised home energy efficiency plan from the Snugg website. As well as showing potential savings, it will give you extra details such as how long it takes for an improvement to pay back the installation cost and which grants you could be eligible for. It’ll even show you accredited installers in your area who you can contact for quotes.