Households could save hundreds of pounds every year on their electricity bills if the UK stopped putting its clocks back at the end of October, according to an expert. The nation traditionally switches from British Summer Time to Greenwich Mean Time in autumn to allow more daylight in the mornings - but scrapping this measure could lead to energy savings, it is claimed.
Professor Aoife Foley, from the school of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Queen’s University Belfast, said abandoning the October change would reduce demand on the National Grid at peak times. “By simply foregoing the winter Daylight Savings Time (DST) in October, we save energy because it is brighter in the evening during winter, so we reduce commercial and residential electrical demand as people leave work earlier, and go home earlier, meaning less lighting and heating is needed,” she said.
“We are no longer in an energy crisis in Europe but an energy war and dependent on weather conditions this winter it is very likely we may need to start rationing energy very seriously to avoid bigger energy issues in December and January when gas reserves start to run low. There is no doubt that by foregoing the daylight savings in winter we would save a lot of energy, reduce our bills and carbon emissions during this energy war, and especially during a cost of living crisis.”
