Owning your own home comes with countless additional expenses above your mortgage payments, and it’s easy to forget just how much your energy bill can cost. Turning on the kettle or running hot water for a bath can eat up energy costs, and eventually, it can feel like you’re drowning in obscene financial commitments.
You could decide to heat only one room in your home or decide to shower with cold water, but there are other things you can do to make your home more energy-efficient and save on your energy costs that aren’t so… uncomfortable.
While one small change may not save you significant amounts of money on each bill, multiple small changes can add up to hundreds of pounds of savings.
5 Easy Tips On Saving Money On Your Energy Bill
1. Turn Unused Electronics Off
If you leave a DVD or Blu-Ray player or a TV plugged in and simply leave it on standby mode, it’s still drawing energy even if it isn’t actively being used. Switch these things off completely to prevent them from drawing power when you aren’t using them.
For things like your phone chargers, taking them out of standby mode can be challenging as they don’t have a switch to turn them on or off. In these cases, you’ll have to unplug them to prevent them from drawing power unnecessarily.
You could save up to £30 a year on your energy bill simply by keeping your electronics out of standby mode.
2. Use Smart Technology
Installing a thermostat that you can schedule can help you save up to £75 a year. You can programme it only to turn on just before you get up for the morning or just before you arrive home from work.
Not only does this let you have your home warm when you want it to be warm, but you aren’t wasting energy by having it run when you’re out of the house or asleep. Smart technologies like programmable thermostats allow you to have the most control over your living space.
Another potential piece of technology you can use to save money on energy is to install motion-activated lights. If you have kids, this will prevent them from leaving lights on when they aren’t in a room. These sorts of lights can also keep unwanted visitors out of your home, providing you with a little bit of added security on top of the energy-saving benefits.
3. Think About Furniture Placement
Putting your bed right in front of a radiator can make it, so your bed frame absorbs most of the heat rather than the air around you. More energy is needed to heat the room because so much energy is lost to absorption.
Moving your sofa or any other big pieces of furniture just a few inches away from the radiator could save you up to £125 a year. You might want to disguise those unsightly radiators, but large pieces of furniture soak up a lot of heat.
4. Keep Your Home Future-Proof
One of the best ways to save money on your energy costs is by keeping your home as draught-proof as possible. Even new homes often lose some heat when the weather gets cold due to some natural gaps around windows and doors.
Granted, the initial cost of hiring a professional to draught-proof windows, doors, and cracks can be around £200, DIY options can be significantly cheaper. By doing this, though, you can save nearly £100 a year on your energy costs.
Another future-proofing measure you can take is to buy only A-rated appliances for your home. Again, by spending a bit more upfront, you can save a significant amount. Another quick switch to preserve not only lower energy costs but environmental-friendliness is to switch to LED lights. LEDs last 10-20 times longer than traditional light bulbs and use less electricity.
In short, switching out a few things in your home may cost more money upfront, but you’ll be setting yourself up for significant future savings.
5. Keep Your Boiler Serviced
A faulty boiler can be one of the most significant drains on your energy costs. Having your boiler serviced by a qualified team of professionals can help ensure you aren’t unnecessarily wasting money on a faulty boiler.
Not only can a professional team catch potential issues and repair them, but they can also recommend when the best time is to replace your old one. While potentially upwards of £2,300 to replace, a new boiler has the added benefit of being significantly more energy-efficient and providing you and your family with years of future comfort and savings.
Consult the Professionals!
At Edinburgh Gas & Renewables, we take pride in helping people heat their homes more sustainably without compromising comfort. Happy warm people that do not cost the earth = happy us.
There is no doubt we are in a climate emergency and we are striving to come up with more innovative and affordable heating solutions for real people that will reduce further damage to our planet.
Whether it’s upgrading to a new and more efficient gas boiler, an air source heat pump, or solar panels you’re after, we offer a comprehensive range of heating solutions, including installation and maintenance of gas boilers in and around Edinburgh and the Lothians. Contact us today and find out how we can work together to create a better tomorrow.
