As we all know energy bills are going up and up and even with the government schemes and energy caps, we are all having to pay massive bills. But there are simple and practical change that we can all make to save money, see below for my top 10 ways you can easy save money on your energy bill and most are FREE
Figures that are given are average estimates based on price per unit at time of writing this article, and by using figures from different sources, so don’t take these as gospel figures and your saving may vary by being lower or even higher. You can check yourself by using your smart meter or by buying a plug in energy meter to monitor individual devices.
1. Avoid using standby on electrical devices
This is a simple one, any device that has a standby mode ie a little red light in corner of tv when off, is in standby mode, just switch off from plug instead
NOTE: game consoles work different see below
Save upto £35 a year
2. Reduce showering time by one minute
The average shower time in the uk is 7-8 minutes, now yes nice to have a long shower , but really what would be the difference in shortening by just 1 minute. We have normally showered within 4 mins, though maybe longer if you have long hair and have to treat etc.
Save upto £25 a year
3. Turn the thermostat down by 1 °C
The average room temperature for heating your home is between 20-22°C, now if yours is set to 22°C just turning down by 1 °C you probably wouldn’t notice really any difference in the temperature but would notice a difference in the cost.
Save upto £80 a year
4. Wash clothes at 30°C not 40°C
For most of us we wear our clothes for just one day and most of the time they really aren’t that dirty so a 30°C wash is enough, Though if doing bedding or you do get dirty with your job i.e. I clean fish ponds then yes you do need to do a 40°C. Check your instructions for your washing machine on how to turn down the temperature.
Save upto £35 a year
5. Only boil as much water as needed
This is something we all do sometimes is overfill the kettle, for example if you are only making 1 cup of tea or coffee you really only need to fill to the minimum line as that is well enough water for just a normal cup size.
Save upto £40 a year
6. Wash up in a bowl rather under a tap
Now I’m one of guilty for this, think of it this way you are doing a normal washing up of a meal etc, for the time it takes to keep the tap going to wash each item you could have filled your sink twice, which over time this does add up.
Save upto £30 a year
7. Close curtains and draught proof doors
The worst places for draughts into your house is from your windows and external doors. So make sure you close your curtains fully and the curtains are below window sill, and if curtains by patio doors, make sure extra at the bottom. Also good idea to get door draught excluders.
Save upto £100 a year
8. Switch bulbs to LED bulbs
Now most of us have already done this, but some people may not know the older incandesant light bulbs use an amazing extra amount of electric, i.e. most old bulbs are either 60 or 100watts of power, newer led bulbs that produce the same amount of light are just 5-8 watts, and most LED bulbs are available from discount store at around a £1 each, so yes bit of expense to start but would get more back over the year.
Save upto £35 a year
9. Turn lights off when not in use
This is simple but we all have done it, we go from the living room into kitchen to do dinner, but leave the lights on in living room, now that maybe for only 30mins or so, but that really does add up, and realistically how hard is it to turn off a light switch.
Save upto £25 a year
9. Turn off game console standby mode
Games console like the Xbox One Series X or S and PlayStation PS4 or PS5, have different standby modes. If you go into power settings you will see they have a sleep mode this enables them to download games and updates while off. But most of the time it is just sitting there doing nothing but still using up to 40 watts of power while you are thinking it is off, so make sure you have set your console not to be in sleep mode.
Save upto £80 a year