The quick wins to save money on energy bills

17th July 2019

There are so many ways you can reduce your household’s energy use. Not only beneficial for the environment, but great for helping you cut costs on your bills.

We don’t all have a huge pile of savings to make the more expensive home improvements, so we’ve pulled together some simple and inexpensive adjustments you could make to help save those pennies.

Fill your fridge with bottles of tap water

Your fridge-freezer is one of the very few appliances that must be kept on permanently. If your fridge isn’t already full, TV presenter Phil Spencer recommends filling it with bottles of tap water. Why? Well it may seem illogical, but it actually takes more energy to keep an empty fridge cold than a full one, therefore filling your fridge in the interim with bottles of water will reduce the energy consumption and save on your energy bill.

Defrost your freezer

Ever find it hard to open and shut the drawers in your freezer due to all that frost build up? Whilst not only being a nuisance and taking up valuable space, it will also be making it harder for your freezer to work efficiently. To keep your machine running well, defrost when the frost build-up covers a large area and exceeds ¼-inch thickness.

Keep your freezer full too!

Once you have defrosted your freezer, it’s time to keep it full. Keeping this full is also more efficient than an empty one. If that wasn’t a big enough incentive, it's useful to know that if you were to ever experience a dreaded power-cut, a freezer that is half full would hold food safely for 24 hours, but this doubles to 48 hours if completely full.

Close your curtains

Simple yet effective. Closing your curtains at dusk will help stop precious heat escaping through your windows – especially important if you live in a period property. In addition, Energy Saving Trust advise you can save £20 per year by simply draught proofing your windows and doors.

Think about how much water you use in the kitchen

Fancy a brew? Ensure you aren’t filling up the kettle to the brim if you are just making a cuppa for yourself. Boiling more water than you need could set you back £6 per year.

And whilst it may not seem like you are using that much water when washing dishes under a running tap, if you switch to washing in a filled sink, Energy Saving Trust advise you could save £30 a year.

Swap your showerhead

According to npower, 81% of us believe showers use less water than baths. But did you know your shower could be drenching you with 50 litres of water more than you would use in a bath. If you're a shower person, the Energy Saving Trust predicts you could save £70 a year by installing a water-efficient shower head and just one minute less in the shower could save you up to £80 annually.

Keep on top of your meter

Smart meters are great, they enable you to monitor how much energy you are using – and wasting – in near real time. This can massively help your household adopt better energy habits.

If you don’t have a smart meter, don’t leave it with your energy supplier to guess your consumption as you could end up paying much more than you need. Ensure to check and update your energy supplier with your meter readings every three months at the very least. If you are massively in credit, ask for this back. If you face problems doing this, make sure to quote ‘condition 27 of the Gas Supply Licence’ – this states credits must be refunded, and the amounts of Direct Debits should be fair.

Stop leaving appliances on standby

Standby may be convenient but it’s wasted energy and according to Energy Saving Trust, you can save around £30 a year just by remembering to turn off your appliances completely.

Switch to LED lighting

LED bulbs use up to 90% less energy than traditional halogen bulbs. With lighting accounting for 15% of a typical household electricity bill, the Energy Saving Trust estimates you could save £35 a year by making the switch to LED.

We know what you are thinking, LED bulbs cost significantly more than halogen bulbs. However, it is important to note that not only do they use less energy, they have a lifespan of around 25,000 hours compared to 3,000 hours for a halogen equivalent.

Above is a list of simple energy cost-saving measures and how much the Energy Saving Trust advises you can save per year. If you were to do all the above you could save a huge £362 per year.