Water utilities in the UK are advising customers to save water and energy by using damp towels or spray bottles instead of taking showers during a heatwave and drought this summer.
Customers say the pieces of advice water companies are giving are "laughable," including looking up a four-minute-long song to take a shower or collecting the cold water in the shower until the water heats up, the Mail on Sunday reports. Other advice includes using oak barrels to collect rainwater.
Water supplies in the UK are reduced due to the recent heatwaves and a lack of rain, and some utilities have already introduced hosepipe bans in some areas to save water resources.
Cat Hobbs, a campaigner at We Own It, which calls for water companies to be put into public ownership, told Mail on Sunday: "Are the firms competing to offer the daftest advice? Who has an oak barrel, even if there was any chance of rain to fill it? 'Water firms' hypocrisy is incredible."
Customers and campaigners accuse water utilities of paying millions of pounds to their bosses and shareholders while giving "daft" advice to people to save resources.
Meanwhile, UK customers are paying more and more on their energy bills, and those bills are set to rise further by the end of the year.
Energy bills in the UK are set to surge more than expected this winter, with many households struggling to be able to pay them after Russia further slashed gas deliveries to Europe, sending gas and energy prices for the winter and for next year soaring, UK-based consultancy BFY Group said at the end of last month.
"With typical usage patterns, this means that bills for January alone will now be in excess of £500 [$602]. Further support will be required for the majority of households for them to not be classed as in fuel poverty," said Gemma Berwick, Senior Consultant at BFY Group.
"Huge swathes of the British public aren't going to be able to afford their bills this winter. Average families with two working parents will be in fuel poverty," Berwick said, as carried by The Telegraph.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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