Electrician Andrew Lovelace may be almost evangelical when it comes to promoting domestic energy saving systems but he has two golden rules – he initially ‘road tests’ them in his own home to assess their performance and they must return worthwhile savings for his customers.
This approach is paying dividends for his company, Lovelace Electrical of Boston, Lincolnshire, with word of mouth referrals boosting business for its solar PV and domestic voltage optimisation systems. His own home energy bills have also tumbled and will continue to fall as he introduces further ‘green’ measures to the property.
One of the latest energy management solutions he’s introduced is voltage optimisation, delivered solely through Voltis Home from British manufacturer Marshall-Tufflex.
Andrew, a qualified electrician of 23 years standing, installed the system in a storage area within his four-bed home. He explained: “I wanted to see if it worked before recommending it to customers. I’ve had no problems with it. It is probably the best system on the market because you don’t have to reconfigure the fuse board or change circuits to isolate cookers or immersion heaters, for example. Voltis Home optimises everything, making it easier and quicker to install. I also prefer it over cheaper systems because you don’t get call-backs.”
Voltis Home has reduced his incoming mains feed from 238Volts to 216V without affecting the operation of domestic appliances. Because Andrew has installed the VO system in conjunction with a solar PV unit quantifying savings has not proved possible. However, he advises customers that Voltis Home will reduce their electricity bills by around 10%.
One client has had the system installed specifically to help with fluctuating voltage – his domestic power supply varies hugely and this had resulted in a number of domestic appliances breaking. Andrew is confident that Voltis Home will help to provide protection against this.
Andrew has built his business on thoroughly auditing the energy costs/needs of customers and calculating a realistic payback period to ensure his golden rule is adhered to. An honest approach coupled with looking at a number of energy saving steps, including tariff changes and low energy light bulbs, plus a flat installation fee for Voltis Home, have helped the business grow.
To promote Voltis Home and solar PV Andrew organised his own trade show in Boston, producing a range of leaflets to explain the different technologies available. He’s now planning to exhibit at the Lincolnshire Show in June to spread the word further and hopes to have a Voltis Home unit on stand.
But Andrew’s vision hasn’t stopped at the county boundary. Over the winter he wrote to Boston and Skegness MP Mark Simmonds suggesting that the additional benefit payments to help people through the exceptionally cold winter should be channelled instead into energy saving systems such as Voltis Home or Marshall-Tufflex’s Domestic Boiler Management system in order to save residents money now and in years to come.
