One of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce emissions is to generate less electricity. This means we need to find ways to help our customers to use less energy. The Government's Energy Efficiency Commitment scheme requires us to provide energy-efficiency measures to our residential customers.

Supporting our residential customers

During 2005 our Home Energy Services business invested over £50 million in domestic energy efficiency. Delivered by Home Installation, we helped around 750,000 customers by insulating 38,369 cavity walls and 21,080 lofts, and by installing 287 fuel-efficient boilers and heating systems, as well as providing a small but growing number of micro combined heat and power (CHP) products for domestic use. These will save over four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over the lifetime of the products installed.

Calculation of customer benefit is based upon the lifetime of the products installed, their relative cost and energy savings and is calculated using the methodology devised by The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (Ofgem). This means that whilst some products deliver greater customer benefit, others deliver greater carbon dioxide (CO₂) savings.

Although we provide our residential customers with a range of ways to help them manage their energy consumption, the uptake of these measures is currently low. We recognise that we have a role in increasing uptake, and believe that we need to work with the government to improve economic incentives for consumers to reduce their energy consumption, reinforce the message that the use of energy contributes to global warming, and provide better information to consumers about their energy consumption and how they can take action to reduce it.

Recent research by Ofgem has shown that consumers may reduce the amount of energy they use by up to 10% if they are provided with detailed information about their usage patterns. In response to this, we have begun to trial a system of 'energy statements'. Quarterly bills are accompanied by a simple chart showing the amount of gas and electricity used compared to the same period 12 months ago, together with average daily usage. The aim is to find out whether or not customers cut the amount of energy they use - and so reduce their bills - when they see in detail exactly how much electricity and gas they use every day.

We are also investigating new technology to help our customers better understand their energy usage, so that they can make informed decisions to reduce their carbon output. We are currently trialling a device called Electrisave that attaches to the mains cable in the home and provides information on levels and costs of electricity usage, and associated carbon emissions at any given moment.

We are also trialling automated meter reading (AMR) - or 'smart metering' - for business and domestic customers.

Supporting our business and industrial customers

We work with our non-domestic customers to determine how effectively they use the energy we supply and identify opportunities to reduce energy waste. This is supported by providing energy management information and trend reporting to customers based on the consumption data we hold.

For industrial customers, large-scale CHP can help to reduce carbon emissions substantially. CHP provides a secure and highly efficient method of generating electricity and usable heat in a single process at the point of use; it is sometimes called 'co-generation'. Because it uses heat from electricity generation and has no transmission losses (as electricity is generated on site), CHP typically achieves a 35% reduction in energy use compared with power stations and heat-only boilers. We have CHP clients in sectors as varied as paper production, chemicals and oil refining, with a total capacity of 577 megawatts (MW) of electricity at the end of 2005.

Energy losses from distribution

We have also made progress in reducing energy losses from our electricity distribution network. In 2005 these were 5%, which represents 2,876 gigawatt hours (GWh) compared to the 2004 level of 5.3%. This equates to a saving of 68GWh or the equivalent of 29,329 tonnes of CO₂.

Low-carbon leadership in E.ON UK

We are also working to manage our non-operational 'carbon footprint' and have set ourselves a 10% reduction target year on year. Our non-operational carbon emissions in 2005 amounted to nearly 26,000 tonnes of CO₂, excluding air travel. We are concentrating on reducing energy use (our office energy use was almost 48 GWh in 2005) and vehicle emissions, and actions include lowering office temperatures by 1°C and ensuring that PC monitors are switched off when they are not being used.

We are also investigating a work scheduling system that would help us to reduce travel times between tasks, while meeting our contractual commitments. A similar idea is 'One Shot Metering', which avoids the need for two employees (a jointer and a meter fixer) to fit a new connection, which has the additional benefit of giving the customer a better and quicker service.

The same model is followed with our One Stop Shop service in which we arrange to do everything from connecting customers to the electricity, gas, water and telecommunications networks, to installing their meter board, insulation, central heating and boiler, to fitting the new Whispergen micro-CHP product. This approach gives our customers a better and more streamlined service, and allows us to operate more efficiently.

During 2005, we travelled almost 18 million miles on business. We are aiming to reduce this mileage by re-assessing the need for travel between locations and better scheduling of the essential meetings we must attend. Among the solutions we are employing here are increased use of video and teleconferencing, and use of web-based virtual meeting applications.