Check out our simple energy saving tips which include some of the most practical things you can do to improve efficiency and see savings on your energy bill this winter.
The thermostat
The first place to look is at the thermostat. Like many families, the thermostat might be set a little bit higher than it needs to. Even if you turn down the temperature down by 1 degree you could save up to £75 a year and you probably won’t even notice the difference.
Programme the heating
The second part of heating controls is to look at your programmer. This is the thing that tells you when your heating will come on. Most people will have it set to come on in the morning, off when they go out, and on again in the evening, then off when they go to bed – perfect! But you need to check your water heating. Ensure the water heating isn’t on 24hrs a day as that is just a waste of money. Depending on what you’ve got yours set at, you could save up to £150 a year by getting your heating controls just right.
Turn off the power supply
Most families these days have lots of electronic equipment including laptops, phone chargers, TVs – you name it. Most appliances are left on at the wall while sitting on standby all the time. The trouble is that when they are plugged in at the wall, they are still using power even if you’re not using the equipment. If you turn off all your equipment at the wall that’ll roughly save you £80-£150 a year.
Only use what you need
Let’s look in the kitchen, where there are lots of appliances that use electricity, so you need to make sure that you are using them as effectively as possible. A kettle for example, if you overfill your kettle it’s a waste of money. If you only boil the amount you need every time that’ll save you about £7 a year. Washing machine – wash at 30 degrees instead of 40 or 60 and that’ll save you another £6 a year. Tumble dryer – Many families use their tumble dryer all year round. If you only use it when you need to, that’ll save you up to another £18 a year. These are all small amounts of money, but they do add up.
Replace lightbulbs
Finally, lighting. Lots of families have replaced many of their lightbulbs with energy-efficient lightbulbs so they’re saving money already, but they usually haven’t done the whole lot. Some people use halogen light bulbs in the bathroom, but these are not cost-efficient. These can be replaced by LEDs which are far more efficient and will last much longer. If a typical household replaced all their halogen down-lighters with LEDs, they could save around £35 a year.
Of course, every family is different. What you can do in your home will be slightly different, the amount of money you can save will be slightly different. But we can all look at where we’re wasting energy and cut back easily with a few simple changes and we’ll start saving money straight away. If you’re selling your home, all of the above will help improve your energy performance report (EPC) by demonstrating how efficient your property is. If you need advice on how you can improve your EPC rating, give us a call 0131 608 0175 or email info@homereportcompany.co.uk.
