A Guide to Cutting Your Energy Bills

What You Need to Know

1. Turning down your thermostat by just 1°C can you save you as much as 10% on your heating bills.
2. A leaking tap wastes as much water as having one extra bath a week.
3. Appliances left on standby still use up to 80% as much energy as when they’re turned on.
4. Energy saving bulbs last ten times longer than regular bulbs and could save you £45 over their lifetime.
5. Heat lost through windows accounts for 25% of your heating bill, so make sure you have double glazing.
6. Fitting loft insulation pays for itself very quickly and could save you up to £200 a year.
7. Grants are available through the government to help those in financial difficulties to pay for energy saving improvements to their homes.

With energy prices set to rise substantially in the near future, wasteful habits will soon be even more harmful to your bank balance than they are to the environment. Fortunately, there a number of incredibly easy ways you can keep a bit more of your pay in your pocket, whilst reducing your carbon footprint.

Here’s our guide on how to go about it;

Turn Down Your Thermostat

This couldn’t be easier to do and it’s a big saver. Turning down by one degree will save you 10% on your heating bill and you won’t even notice the difference!

Other incredibly easy ways to save on heating include, closing your curtains at dusk to stop heating escaping through the windows and investing in draught excluders for any problematic doors.

Water

There are a whole host of ways you can be more efficient with water. Make sure your water isn’t too hot. Your cylinder thermostat should read no higher than 60°C/140°F.

Whenever you boil water, be sure only to heat as much as you need. Switching from baths to showers is another top tip, as a five minute shower will use less than half the amount of water used for a bath.

Appliances, such as washing machines and dishwashers, also use a lot of water. In both cases you should only use the machines when you have a full load to wash. You should also wash at the lowest temperature possible, as these machines use roughly 85% of their energy on heating up water.

Be sure to get any leaking taps fixed. A single dripping tap wastes water equivalent to one bath a week.

Standby

Appliances left on standby still use as much as 80% of the energy that they do when in use. Turning them off completely can save you a further 10% off your bills.

You should be sure to turn off anything you are not using. Be mindful of chargers, which use energy whenever they’re plugged in, even when the gadget they’re attached to is fully charged or absent.

If you are going away on holiday leave nothing on standby. It may also be wise to empty out your fridge so you can turn it off, as your fridge accounts for about 10% of your energy usage.

Lights

Turn out the lights whenever you leave the room and you’ll contribute towards a big overall saving. Buy energy saving light bulbs whenever possible. They last ten times longer than regular bulbs and will save you about £45 over their lifetime.

Switch Supplier

This may not ultimately make much difference to the environment but it will certainly save you money. You can compare utilities deals using our handy comparison tool where you can find tariffs from top suppliers such as EDF, Scottish Power and many more.

Make Some Home Improvements

These days double glazing is a legal requirement for any window being installed, and with good reason. They retain heat much better and heat loss through windows makes up 25% of heating bills. You should think about replacing any old windows in your home.

Insulation should also be a priority. Heat rises, therefore your loft is the first area you should insulate. By investing in fibreglass insulation at least 7 inches thick, you’ll save about £150 a year. Insulation can now be obtained for less than £200, meaning it could pay for itself very quickly.

Whenever you buy ‘white appliances’ look for the Energy Saving Trust logo to be sure the product won’t cost you a fortune to run, ‘A rated’ machines being the best.

A new boiler, whilst being more expensive, can save over £200 a year in energy bills, making a good medium-long term investment.

Grants and Offers

If you are in a situation where energy efficient changes are too expensive to make, help is available form the government who offer grants through their Warm Front initiative. These help people make changes to their home that will make them easier to heat and benefit the environment.

Further Reading

• Don’t limit your energy saving habits to home. Make sure to save energy in the workplace as well.
• When the time comes to sell you’ll find making your home more efficient will increase your home’s value.
• The Energy Saving Trust have lots of helpful tips on being more environmentally friendly.