With the cost of living on the rise, there’s never been a better time to cut your energy bills. We’ve put together some tips to help you and your family reduce your energy usage in every room of your home.
We’re excited to let you know about a brand-new service, the Housing Association Energy Advice Support Service. We’ve partnered with Changeworks, Scotland’s leading environmental charity and experts in providing energy advice and support, to deliver this service. Visit here to learn more.
Home heating | keeping warm with less energy
Over half of our energy bills spend goes on heating and hot water. It’s important to look at our home heating habits and see if there are small changes, we can make to reduce our heating bills.
- If you can, turn down your thermostat. Just one degree lower will save you money. Set a timer on your thermostat, if you have one, for your heating to come on only when you need it.
- Don’t heat empty rooms. If you have individual radiator thermostats this means you can adjust the temperature in each room accordingly.
- Keep doors between adjoining rooms shut. This way, you stop the heat from escaping.
- Run your heating for an hour less each day. Even using a little less energy each day adds up to savings over time.
- If relevant, bleed your radiators. Trapped air can make your radiators less efficient, so they’ll be slower to heat up. You can tell that a radiator needs to be bled if it is not evenly warm at the top and bottom.
- Keep the heat in. Simply closing your blinds or curtains in the evening can also stop the heat loss by up to 17%. Just be sure your curtains don’t cover the radiators
Kitchen | reduce your energy and water usage when cooking and washing up
- The microwave is generally the most efficient way to heat up and cook food – it’s quicker and has a smaller area to heat when compared to an oven, which means that the heat is more focused on whatever’s being cooked.
- Use energy efficient appliances such as a slow cooker or air fryer to cook your meals.
- If using the oven consider batch cooking your meals and freezing them. This will reduce the amount of time your appliance is in use.
- Use smaller pans. The smaller your pan, the less heat you’ll need. Using the right size pan for your meal means less energy wasted.
- Keep saucepan lids on. Your food will heat up faster.
- Defrost your fridge freezer regularly to prevent it from using more energy than needed.
- Only boil the water you need. Over-filling the kettle wastes water, money and time. Instead, only boil as much water as you need.
- Reduce washing machine use by avoiding washing half loads whenever possible, but if it’s unavoidable, you should use the half load programme. Washing clothes at a lower temperature also uses less energy.
Bathroom | reduce your water and energy bills
- Consider water wastage. 12% of a typical gas-heated home’s energy bill is from heating the water for showers, baths and water from the hot tap.
- Keeping your shower time to just 4 minutes could save a typical household £95 a year on their energy bills.
Home lighting and electronics | keep the lights on for less
- Change your light bulbs. Fitting LED bulbs is a great way to reduce energy use at home.
- Switch off the lights. Every time you leave a room, switch the lights off.
- Switch off all electronic devices when not in use. Even when they’re in standby mode they are still using electricity.
Smart meters | track your usage to save money
It’s important now, more than ever, to stay in control of your energy. With a smart meter, you’ll easily be able to track your energy usage and see where you can save so that you can lower your bills and your carbon footprint.
Smart benefits include:
- Upgrade your meter at no extra cost
- You’re in control – you can see the cost of your energy
- Receive more accurate bills
- If you have use cards or keys, you can top up online
Not every location has the smart meter technology available but contact your energy provider if you would like a smart meter.
