Save Money On Your Energy

1. Looking to Save Money On Your Energy

2. Here are the top 12 tips for saving money on your energy bills this year:

• Switch your supplier – The new energy price cap is now saving customers around £76 annually on their gas and electricity bills. However, the cap is based on a ‘unit’ price of energy used so your monthly bill will still largely depend on how much energy you use (how many units you use).This cap isn’t cheap compared to switching energy suppliers. If you switch from the default rate to another supplier, you could potentially save up to £252 a year!
• Switch to Direct Debit – If you pay your bills via Direct Debit, you can save up to £100 annually because it reduces the administration costs for the provider which they often pass on to the customer.
• Turn down your thermostat slightly – By turning down your thermostat by a degree, you can save on average £80 yearly.
• Take control – Over half of energy bills are contributed to by heating and hot water. If you have a room thermostat, programmer and radiator valves installed and use the controls efficiently, you can save £75. The controls will allow you to set when heating and hot water comes on and off and heat particular areas of your home that you want heating.

• Fit a shower head – If your shower takes a lot of hot water from your boiler/tank, fitting an efficient shower head will reduce hot water usage whilst retaining high water pressure. A water efficient shower head for a family of 4 could save £75 a year on gas for water heating as well as another £120 on water bills if they have a meter (assumptions made on 20 showers a week being taken).
• Kitchen appliances – You could save £37 a year by using kitchen appliances more efficiently:
• Use a bowl when washing up rather than a running tap (£25).
• Cut washing machine loads by one a week (£5).
• Fill kettle to exact amount (£7).
• Use LED bulbs – Replacing halogens with LED lights and using energy saving bulbs would cost about £100 on average (one off payment) but save around £35 annually on bills.
• Stop using standby – You can save £30 a year by turning appliances fully off rather than leaving them on standby. Turn them off at the plug or invest in a standby saver which allows you to turn all appliances off at once.
• Reduce shower time – By spending 1 minute less in the shower every day, you can save up to £7 off your energy bills annually per person. If everyone in a 4 person household did this, you can save £28 a year on your energy. If you have a water meter, you could save a further £12 per person off annual water bills which is £76 for the household.
• Draught proofing – You’re likely to lose some heat through draughts around doors and windows, chimneys and floors. Professional draught-proofing can cost about £200 as a one off payment but can save around £25 a year on energy bills. Installing a chimney draught excluder could save £15 a year also.
• Turn off lights – This one is self-explanatory; you can save around £14 a year on annual energy bills by turning your lights off when you’re not using them.
• Smart controls – Smart controls allow you to remotely control heating via a mobile app so the temperature of your home can be monitored whenever, wherever you are.

If the savings are totalled up, the annual savings that can be made if you follow all of these tips is £751!