Householders and businesses are being advised to reduce their energy costs by using water more efficiently.

Piers Clark, Commercial Director at Thames Water believes consumers can do more around their water and energy footprint.

He told ELN: “It’s worth remembering that, certainly for domestic properties, 40% of the energy bill is spent on heating water and actually if you could be more efficient on the amount of water you use, you’ll be saving on energy.”

The call comes as energy suppliers are gearing up for the next round of gas and electricity price hikes this winter.

Mr Clark added that controlling costs is vital for Thames Water which spends more than £100 million a year on energy.

He said: “Pumping water around the country, it’s a heavy product and it uses an enormous amount of energy. So we’re looking to try and generate between 20%-30% of our energy from renewable sources. We’re currently at around 14% and we’re pushing it up every year.”

With the fats, oil and grease that around 14 million households across London pour down their sink, Thames Water believes the real energy lies there.

Mr Clark went on: “What we’re looking at now is rather than that fat just hitting the sewers and flowing through the sewage treatment works, we’re looking at trying to capture it and turn it into bio-fuel that we can use to help power London.”

Piers will be speaking at Energy Live 2013 so come along if you want to hear more about the innovations undertaken by Thames Water when it comes to energy use and generation. The conference is being held in London on November 7th at the Film Museum in Covent Garden.