Top 3 Winter Energy Savings Tips with Ecotricity

As we head into the colder months, it’s time to think about how you can save energy and money on your bills. It can be daunting to think about your winter bills, especially if you haven’t been in your current property over winter before, but we’re here to help. 

1. Heating your Home

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to heating your home efficiently – there are a number of factors that go into it. 

• Radiators can play a big part in saving energy throughout your home. One quick way to save energy is to turn down the radiators in the rooms you aren’t using. If you’ve got thermostatic valves on your radiators, set each one to the temperature you need for each space. If you don’t have these valves – just turn off the radiators in any rooms you don’t often use, or areas which will warm up anyway from air coming from the rest of your home. 
• Bleed your radiator – this will allow air to escape, helping your radiator work more efficiently. This handy guide will show you how to bleed your radiator. 
• Close gaps and draughts around doors, windows and other spaces - continuous draught can quickly undo all the good work of your heating and waste energy. Identifying and plugging up draughts can help trap warmth in and make your money go further.
• Control your thermostat - tweaking your thermostat (using it as an on/off switch or boost for example) can use more energy. It will be more efficient to set it and leave it on for while you need it. Setting your thermostat to somewhere between 18-21°c is ideal and turning down the temperature by just 1 degree could save you money off your bill.
• An easy tip but a worthwhile one: make sure you keep those doors shut. It’s such a simple way to save energy!
• Close your curtains before it gets dark - this can reduce heat loss by up to 15%.
  

2. Making chores more efficient

• Wash your clothes at a lower temperature. Washing your clothes at 30ºC (rather than 40ºC) cuts your costs by 38%, according to Which?.
• Say no to the tumble dryer – try air drying instead. Currys estimates that a 9kg vented tumble dryer uses around 5.34kWh for a full load – that costs around £1.54 per cycle. 
• Try batch cooking – it'll free up time for you in the week as well as saving money on energy and ingredients, as you’ll only have to use the oven once and you can reheat the food in a microwave later. Plus, there are other appliances you can use – try a slow cooker for larger dishes and air fryers if you’re just cooking for one or two people. 
  

3. Check your appliances

Have you heard of vampire devices? These are electrical devices which actually drain power when they’re left on standby or turned on but not in use. Think TVs, phone chargers, gaming consoles – the things you definitely don’t use all the time, but that you might leave switched on at the plug. In fact, the Energy Savings Trust estimates that the average household in the UK spends £55 per year on appliances left on standby. 

 Here are some more of our top tips to save money and energy with your appliances: 

• Use a microwave to reheat leftovers rather than an oven – they use 80% less energy than conventional ovens.
• Fit energy-saving LED lightbulbs - you can save up to £4 per bulb per year with 50-watt halogen bulbs. 
• Get a smart meter and track your usage on your In-Home Display (IHD). The Energy Saving Trust estimates that using your IHD can cut electricity usage by 2.8% and gas by 2% - with corresponding CO2 emission savings too. Give our team a call on 0345 555 7100 today to book your installation and find out more.
  

About The Author

Written by Imogen Ford from Ecotricity, Britain’s greenest energy company. Get up to £50* account credit when you switch to Ecotricity’s Green tariffs by quoting WGZEROW.

*£25 per fuel