Get winter ready with help from the Consumer Council

The Consumer Council is calling on all consumers to take stock and to consider what steps they need to take to be winter ready.

Antoinette McKeown, Chief Executive of the Consumer Council explains “Last year we experienced a mild winter compared to the winter of 2010. However we don’t want consumers to get complacent when it comes to being ready for winter.”

“Once again we are advising consumers to be as prepared as possible in the event of severe weather occurring. Our handy ‘Weather the Winter’ leaflet gives consumers tips on what they should do to help protect against frozen or burst pipes, a power cut or disrupted transport services.”

“Simple actions such as checking your oil regularly, ensuring your pre payment meter is topped up with sufficient credit, insulating your pipes and tanks and knowing where your stop tap/value is and how to turn it off will help minimise any potential problems should we have bad weather.”

“Winter is also an expensive time of year for consumers with the cost of Christmas presents, food and energy bills to consider so we have also included some tips on shopping and budgeting to further help consumers.

“The Consumer Council hopes these tips will help consumers to have a happy and stress free Christmas.

“Free copies of our ‘Weather the Winter’ leaflet will be available at local libraries, Citizens Advice Bureaus, independent advice centres and constituency offices and can also be downloaded at www.consumercouncil.org.uk/publications or by calling 0800 121 6022.”