We want our homes to embody our wise way of living, whether that’s making big or small changes such as making sure our fully equipped appliances are energy efficient, so we’ve pulled together our top energy saving tips for you:
Smart Savings
Although they’re not a new piece of tech, smart meters are a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and save money. Up and down the country smart meters are being installed at no extra cost to help everyone live that little bit smarter. They measure how much gas and electricity you’re using, what it’s costing you and display all this info on a handy in-home display.
According to Delta-ee, an energy research company, making small steps in your home could save customers around £50 – £100 a year! Interested in using a smart meter? Contact your energy supplier to find out more info.
Standby Saviour
One of the quickest and easiest ways to save energy is turning your appliances off standby mode. Research suggests you can save around £55 a year by remembering to turn your appliances like games consoles, toasters and printers off standby mode.
Although there’s been some confusion in the past, nowadays almost all electrical appliances can be turned off at the plug without disrupting their programming. It’s always worth double-checking any appliances you’re not sure about, such as TV streaming services – you don’t want them interfering with the programs you’re recording for a later date!
Cleaning Cuts
Don’t worry, our next tip isn’t to cut out cleaning! Instead, whenever you’re loading the dishwasher or washing machine ask yourself is it full or can you squeeze a few extra bits in there?
Try and aim to reduce your washing machine use by one run per week, it can have a big impact on not only your bills but also our planet, as can reducing the cycle temperature.
The dishwasher can be a saviour at times but try and run a cycle when it’s full. If you haven’t got enough dishes to fill it, it might be worth filling up a washing-up bowl and doing it the ‘manual’ way!
Appliances
When you’re out and about purchasing new appliances for your home, whether it’s a new toaster, a speaker, or a new pack of lightbulbs, try and look at the energy label. You’ll know the one, it tends to be the multicoloured sticker on the packaging of the product. It’ll tell you the amount of energy it uses, along with a handy comparison to similar appliances. Energy labels have changed in recent years, so take a look at this handy guide from which.com.
Searches for smart appliances in the home have increased drastically since the start of the pandemic. The room that’s home to the most appliances? The Kitchen! The significant increase in investment in tech in the kitchen is likely due to people opting to cook at home more – reducing how often they go to busy public spaces.
Kettles are one of the most used appliances in the kitchen, we’re all guilty of filling the kettle with more than enough water when boiling it for a cuppa! A quick & easy way to save on your electricity bill is to avoid overfilling the kettle, try and use the water indicator to use the perfect amount of water for the cuppas you want to make.
We’d always recommend using the Eco setting on your appliances where you can – it’s a big help towards saving energy costs and small steps to reduce the impact on our planet!
Energy regulator Ofgem recently announced the rise in energy price caps, coming into effect on the 1st of April 2022. The energy price cap is the maximum amount energy suppliers across the UK can charge for their energy. There are a lot of handy resources out there such as Ofgem, Energy Saving Trust, and Money Saving Expert, to help people get a better understanding of the energy price cap and what it means for them.
