Reducing Your Electricity Bills

Whether money is tight or not it’s always a good idea to look to reduce your electricity bill. Not only is it good for your wallet (or purse) it’s good for the environment.

Electricity bills fluctuate throughout the year. For many, peaking in the winter months when it’s cold and everyone is indoors watching the television then steadily dropping off towards the second and third quarter.

You can help reduce your electricity bills by following our top tips below.

Reduce Heating Costs:

During the winter months it’s important to keep warm. If your house isn’t heated using gas central heating then this is the most expensive time of year for your household.

Keep your windows closed so the heat stays in the home. Most electric heaters are thermostatic so they will switch off periodically when the room is warm enough.

If your heaters aren’t thermostatic, invest in some new ones if at all possible. The cost of new electric heaters can be justified by the electricity bill saving.

One 2KW (kilowatt) electric heater running for one full hour will cost around £0.40, a thermostatic electric heater may run for a quarter of the time but that is still around £1.00 per day (£90.00 per quarter) and that’s just one heater.

Reduce Lighting Costs

How we light our homes has changed dramatically over the last ten years. Energy saving light bulbs replaced many of the older filament bulbs reducing lighting costs by up to a tenth. Now, LED bulbs can save even more with a single LED bulb consuming just 1 watt of electricity per hour.

If you’re still using old filament or halogen bulbs in your home consider switching over to energy saving or LED bulbs. Replacing 8, 60 watt filament bulbs with energy saving bulbs could save around £1.00 per day.

10W bulb for 10 hours = 0.02p vs 60W bulb for 10 hours = 0.12p.

In addition to replacing older bulbs, switch off lights on rooms that aren’t being used.

Reduce Appliance Costs:

From televisions to tablets, our homes are filled with electrical appliances these days. You can reduce your electricity bills by reducing the costs to power these appliances:

1. Many televisions have power saving modes. Use these to the maximum during off-peak times when you’re in and out of the room. Even better, switch the television off when you are not using it. Plasma televisions consume lots of power so switching to an LED of OLED TV could reduce your power consumption considerably.
2. During the winter, turn your fridge up if possible. It’s typically colder in kitchens during the winter months so there is no need to have the fridge turned right down. Just remember to turn it back up when it warms up.
3. Don’t leave tablets/phones and other small devices plugged in charging. Whilst electricity consumption for these devices is minimal, it all adds up.
4. Switch off devices completely. Even standby consumes electricity so switch off devices using the main on/off switch.

Reduce Cooking Costs:

You can reduce electricity consumption when cooking by following these tips:

1. If you’re cooking small meals, consider using a halogen oven. These ovens are much smaller than a conventional ovens and therefore require less time to heat and cook.
2. If you’re cooking from fresh, consider cooking more food and freezing it for a meal another day.

There are a lot more ways you can reduce your electricity bills but the tips above would provide the largest savings.

Finally, when looking to reduce your electricity costs please consider the following:

1. Don’t be cold. Saving on your heating costs is important but not as important as being warm.
2. Don’t live in the dark. Reducing your lighting costs is great but not as great as being able to see.
3. Don’t go hungry. Reducing your electricity bill by cutting your cooking costs is good but don’t go hungry.