Watts Happening is a free weekly newsletter on UK energy: bills, solar, batteries, heat pumps, the grid and the policy behind them. It lands every Tuesday at 7am and takes about five minutes to read.
It's written for homeowners and business owners who treat their property as an asset and want the real numbers before they spend money. That means the payback, the catch, and sometimes the case for not doing it at all.
I'm John O'Leary. I've worked in electrical for 20 years, and for the last five I've specialised in renewables and home energy. Before starting my own installation company I worked in the ECO industry, delivering large-scale insulation and renewable projects for homeowners, councils and housing associations. Across that work, the businesses I've run have carried out thousands of surveys and installs, from loft and wall insulation to solar and heat pumps.
I hold the ABBE Level 5 Diploma in Retrofit Coordination and Risk Management, the ABBE Level 3 Certificate in Domestic Energy Assessment, the ABBE Level 3 Award in Energy Efficiency for Older and Traditional Buildings and the ABBE Level 3 Award in Damp, Mould and Condensation in Buildings, plus an ABBE Level 4 qualification in retrofit assessment for PAS 2035. That's the lens every issue goes through: what a system does in a real house, measured against what the brochure says.
Every figure has a named source and a date. Government and regulator documents come first. Trade press and company press releases are treated as claims until they're backed up.
Forecasts are reported as forecasts, with the forecaster named and any interest they have in the number stated.
We read official publications for what they leave out as well as what they say. The gap between the headline and the document is often the story.
If a number can't be verified, it stays out.
I own Kyra Energy, a solar, battery storage and heat pump installer in the North West of England. Watts Happening is a separate publication. Kyra only appears in it when it's genuinely relevant, and when it does, I say so in the same place so you can weigh it. No advertiser or sponsor can buy coverage or soften a review.
If we get something wrong, we correct the web version and say what changed. Spotted an error? Reply to any issue or email [email protected]
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