ENERGY bills have risen for millions so now is as good a time as ever to cut costs.
The Ofgem price cap rose by £149 last month, meaning the average household on a dual-fuel tariff is now paying £1,717 a year.
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Of course, how much extra you are paying depends on your usage as the price cap sets a limit on the amount you are charged per unit of gas and electricity, and not everyone in the UK is on the price cap.
Luckily, there are a number of quick and easy tricks you can use to lower your usage and save money – and some take just minutes.
The Energy Saving Trust has listed 10 you can start with – employ them all and you could save £356 a year.
That’s based on a typical three-bedroom semi-detached home on a standard energy tariff and paying by direct debit.
Read more on Energy Bills
Switch off standby – £45
Leaving devices and appliances in standby mode might seem harmless, but it can seriously add to energy bills.
And most electrical appliances can be turned off at the plug without messing with their programming.
Some will eat into your electricity more than others, like tumble dryers, fridges and TVs.
But turn them all off and you could save yourself £45 a year.
Draught-proof windows and doors – £80
Households will have started blasting on their thermostats, but make sure you’re not losing heat to draughts.
The biggest areas you’ll lose warmth are windows, gaps around the floor or through your chimney.
Getting a professional to block these all off can cost around £250 but it does save you around £80 a year, meaning you’d make your money back in just over three years.
You can also do it yourself by buying draught excluders or chimney balloons.
Online Home Shop is currently selling a draught excluder for just £4 on its website while you can get chimney balloons for as little as £17 from Screwfix.
Turn off the lights – £7
It might seem obvious, but a quick flick of the switch when you’re not in a room will save you around £7 a year.
Replacing any halogen light bulbs with LED ones could save you even more too.
The Sun spoke to one mum who saves up to £40 a month on her energy bills after switching to LED bulbs.
Change up your washing technique – £24
Simply turning down the temperature you’re washing your clothes and bedding at can see electricity bills plummet.
For example, dialling it down from 40 degrees Celsius to 30.
Combine that with using your washing machine once less a week for a year and you could save around £24 overall.
Ditch the tumble dryer – £50
Tumble dryers are notorious for guzzling through energy so, if you’ve got one, try to avoid using it.
Instead, use a heated airer which will cost much less per hour to run during the winter.
You can currently buy a winged heated airer from Dunelm, costing around 6p to run per hour.
In comparison, a 2500watt tumble dryer costs around 61.25p to run under the current price cap.
This switch could save you around £50 a year on your energy bills.
Spend less time in the shower – £60
If you’re someone who enjoys spending a hefty amount of time in the shower in the morning or evening, think again.
Keeping your shower time to just four minutes can save you around £60 a year on your energy bills.
If you’re not fussed on the temperature, try having a cold shower a few days a week too.
This means your boiler isn’t having to heat up as much water which will drive down your bills.
Swap a bath for a shower – £9
On the topic of showering, swapping just one bath a week for a four-minute shower could save you £9 a year.
If you’re someone who has three, four or more baths a week, dropping this down to one could save you even more.
Get kitchen savvy – £29
Kettles are used by most on a daily basis, but overfill it and you’re using electricity needlessly.
Only use the amount of water you need and you could save yourself around £10 a year.
You could install an aerator onto your existing kitchen tap too.
They mix air with water, reducing the amount of water you need while maintaining the same pressure and flow
You can buy them for around £7 from B&Q with EST saying they can save you around £19 a year on your energy bills.
Use your dishwasher to full effect – £12
Making sure you fill up your dishwasher as much as possible before running it could save you around £12 a year.
That’s based on you running the appliance once less per week for a year.
That said, you don’t want to overload your dishwasher as this will restrict the hot water flowing through the machine, leaving some of your dishes uncleaned.
Insulate insulate insulate – £40
Some, but not all boilers, come with hot water cylinders which store hot water to pump around your radiators, taps and showers.
Because they store so much water, you can lose a lot of heat through them if they’re not properly insulated.
You can insulate a hot water cylinder with a hot water jacket or insulation blanket. You can get them from Screwfix for £23.
Make this move and you could save yourself around £40 a year.
The exact temperature to set your thermostat
ENERGY bills remain relatively high leaving many worrying over the thermostat.
Energy experts have revealed the exact temperature to set it at so that you can save cash and still keep warm.
When it comes to your thermostat, the Energy Saving Trust recommends you should set it to the “lowest comfortable temperature”.
For the majority of us, this is between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius.
It’s just the right balance between keeping your home warm, and keeping those energy bills as low as possible.
If you have your thermostat set at a higher temperature you can probably afford to turn it down and still keep cosy.
Of course, there are exceptions like anyone who is in ill health, and there is support available to cover extra costs.
Just by turning down the temp by a single degree, you could save as much as £100 a year.
If you cut it by more you will obviously make even bigger savings.
The Energy Saving Trust also says that you don’t need to turn your thermostat up when it is colder outside, the house will still heat up to the set temperature.
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