‘Parent tax’ hitting families with extra £205 to energy bills this summer

Families are being unfairly hit with a “parent tax” this summer due to an increase in energy bills, expert have warned.

Energy-saving app Loop is sounding the alarm that parents will see an uptick in household energy consumption as their children spend more time at home due to the end of the school term.

Over the course of the summer, families should expect to pay an extra £205 in this “parent tax”.

This comes as households have had to deal with skyrocketing energy bills over the past year, as well as changes to the energy price cap.

Despite it being summer, energy experts are highlighting that parents will likely pay more in gas and electricity costs than they otherwise would have expected.

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Here is a breakdown of the cost of energy while carrying out certain activities this summer, according to Loop.

Activity	Cost of energy used over the summer holidays (six weeks)
Air conditioner (1000w) for eight hours a day	£72.00
Garden heater (2000w) for three hours a day	£54.00
Drinks fridge (145w) for 24 hours a day	£31.32
Hoover (1400w) for one hour a day	£12.60
PlayStation (200w) for 6.5 hours a day	£11.70
Dishwasher (1500w) for an extra one hour cycle a day	£9.36
PC (140w) for 6.5 hours a day	£8.19
TV (120w) for 6.5 hours a day	£7.02
Xbox (120w) for 6.5 hours a day	£7.02
Cooking extra meals (800w) for 30 minutes a day	£3.60
Tower fan (35w) for eight hours a day	£2.52
Charging a Nintendo Switch (39w) for three hours a day	£0.42
Charging an Amazon Fire (15w) for four hours a day	£0.22
Charging a mobile phone (5w) for two hours a day	£0.09
TOTAL for six weeks of summer holidays	£213.04

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Steve Buckley, the head of Data Science, emphasised that staying at home this summer could hike a family’s weekly energy bill by £34.

He shared: “Despite the price cap falling at the start of July, energy prices remain high. As a result, we encourage households to stay on top of their energy usage, especially with the children at home for the six weeks of summer.

“We know that staying at home with the kids doesn’t come without its costs. Most families don’t realise that the cost of staying at home this summer could add £34 to household bills per week.

“Add to that the running of essential electrical items, alongside home entertainment and gaming systems, households can expect to pay an extra £205 in ‘parent tax’ over the course of the summer.”

Overall, the most expensive items to run this summer would raise a household energy bill by £157, which includes air conditioning units, garden heaters, and extra drink fridges.

According to Dr Buckley, parents should turn off their appliances which are left on standby, and use cooling devices efficiently.

With the warmer weather, he recommends families dry their clothes outside instead of using a costly dryer.

Finally, the energy expert highlighted that getting the whole family involved in energy-saving can be a fun activity with Loop’s app helping people cut their electricity consumption by 16 percent.

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