It seems lots of us have, given that an astonishing 30 million TVs have been sold in the past three years, according to Ofgem. And this is when we are in a recession.

Another little known fact, is that energy suppliers could claim savings under CERT (Carbon Emissions Reduction Target), for subsidising televisions which had a built in digital tuner and a screen size of less than 22 inches. OK the carbon saving the energy suppliers could claim was small, around 0.15 tonnes of lifetime CO2. I can only guess what funding was given, but this amount of CO2 for other measures would typically see a subsidy of between £1.50 and £2.

In total almost 22 million televisions have received a CERT subsidy over the last three years which Ofgem claims “implies CERT has helped drive a significant uptake of energy efficient TVs in GB households”. Really? How many people stood in the store and chose a TV because it had a whopping £1.50 subsidy through CERT, how many even knew? And how many people instead purchased a TV with an integrated digital tuner because of the digital switchover?

A sceptic may conclude that over the past three years most of the TVs on sale had a digital tuner, so consumers had little choice but to buy one. With the analogue signal being switched off, surely most would opt for a digital-ready TV when upgrading? And not many of these TV would be a household’s main TV, more likely a TV for the bedroom, kitchen or even bathroom, or maybe for hotels and businesses, so I can’t imagine that CERT has had much to do with the driving their sales. Perhaps more incentives to encourage  consumers to buy energy efficient appliances generally, linking with manufacturers and retailers, would have had more benefit.

We all knew a cut to the high Feed-in-tariff was inevitable, but the speed and severity doesn’t make sense.  Just when the industry has geared itself up, the rug is pulled. But it leaves me thinking why was it set up this way in the first place? Why didn’t they link it to energy conservation and require homes to be properly insulated first. It appears to be less to do with saving energy and more to do with making money.  The savvy who have had a spare 12K in the bank, earning next to nothing in interest, have installed solar panels as an income generator. Nothing wrong with that; but only if it is linked to incentives to save energy as well. Yes, you might change your habits and put the dishwasher on in the day, but if your house is badly insulated and you feel it’s ok to heat every room to 21c how is that going to save carbon? Or if the income you generate allows you to fly to the Caribbean every year it’s a nonsense.

Has the price of panels really dropped more than they predicted? And if so, is that do the Chinese subsidising their solar industry? Raw materials haven’t dropped in price. The government obviously needs to re-adjust the scheme, as it is running out of cash, and the advise they have been given to ‘save the industry’ is to cut quickly and deeply. Yes, it might get rid of the ‘sharks’ around, be in does nothing to inspire confidence or trust.

We are often asked why we don’t list broadband routers in Sust-it’s energy efficiency rankings; the simple answers is that manufacturers tend not to publish any energy usage figures, and are unfortunately not obliged to do so!

The main issue with modem routers is that they are on all the time, 24/7 consuming electricity. So how much electricity do they consume? We did a simple test with our BT home hub 2, which is installed in millions of homes across the UK. This router uses 8 watts per hour, that’s 70.08 KWh’s a year, which adds up to £9.24!

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BT has 28% of the UK broadband market*, that’s over 5m customers, consuming £45m worth of electricity every year!

British Telecom are addressing this with their New Home Hub for broadband introduced in 2011, this requires a third less power than previous models, according to BT, as it adjusts power consumption based on use. That still means it costing over £6 a year to run. Whilst this doesn’t sound much on an individual basis, thinking about it on a global scale means a lot of energy being used.

* Source ofcom

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Have you ever switched energy supplier? If you have, you’re in the minority, as research from ofgem has revealed that 70% of us are not engaged in the energy market. As Chris Hulme pointed out, earlier in the week, the complexities of the energy tariff system is a stumbling block for consumers. So they are recommending a simpler single tariff, with a standing charge set by ofgem. Sound thinking, however lets hope they pull the plug (no pun intended) on using the term ‘Evergreen tariffs’ to replace the Standard tariff, which 75% of consumers are on. Surely anyone who’s heard of green energy suppliers, or is currently on a green tariff is going to be mightily confused! Is there anything ‘green’ about ‘evergreen’?

What ofgem doesn’t seem to be addressing, in their recommendations, is the the hassle and time it takes to switch supplier. I’ve experienced the hassling phone calls from the outgoing suppliers suddenly offering you a better deal; the end-list request for meter readings, as they don’t send out meter readers anymore. Then there’s the over exaggerated monthly repayments from your new supplier, as the outgoing energy companies probably don’t share information on your energy usage! And then you’ve got the joy of registering with your new supplier, creating new passwords and figuring out how their website works, not forgetting to cancel your old direct debits. And does it really take six to eight weeks for these energy companies to get their act together when you do want to switch? That’s all if your computer savvy. What about those who don’t have internet access or the skills necessary?

I say bring on Smartmeters with real-time billing and the ability to switch supplier instantly through some kind of login system on the Smartmeter, and the facility to add your credit/dept card details to this meter, rather than opening new accounts with energy suppliers. And a network of advice centres, maybe through the post office/library/citizens advice, to help.

It’s great to see that retailers and manufacturers are starting to show what home appliances cost to run! For the first time I’ve noticed them being upfront with this information; In an imaginative approach Bosch are offering to pay three years energy costs of any new appliances bought at Comet. And what they are offering to pay is pretty generous too, compared to our energy efficiency calculations, which take into account the average usage of washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers and includes water costs. However their price for electricity is a little mean at 12p per KWh!

There’s a £100 off a BOSCH WTW86560GB tumble dryer, £81 off a washing machine, £78 off a BOSCH fridge frezzer and £71 off Dishwasher. Click here to see the offers.