Reduce my energy bills now…Are you ready to make some serious savings in a short amount of time?
Great! That’s what we are here to show you. Many of the investments or energy savings tactics that we’ve written about in other articles have a long payback time spread over several years. We’ve put together our favourite bill-hacking ideas that are going to save you money in the next three months.
“How Can I Reduce My Energy Bills Now?” you ask, well, you could…
Switch Energy Supplier
You’ve probably heard your friends, colleagues, family and even people on the street talking about how much money you could save by switching your energy supplier. The tariffs change so often and offers and deals pop up all the time, so it’s hard to know if you’re getting a great deal or not. But, consider that the cheapest energy supplier and the most expensive energy supplier charge a difference of over £400 a year, and you can see how it’s possible to save money immediately.
Change Tariff
You may be quite happy with the customer service, data and efficiency of your supplier, so if changing to another energy supplier as a way to ‘reduce my energy bills’ isn’t appealing, perhaps changing tariff is. Quite often, you will sign up to a one year tariff, and when it expires, you get moved onto the ‘standard tariff’, which is usually the supplier’s most expensive! This is a leading factor that causes UK bill payers to overpay more than £1 billion each year!
Dress Warmer
Thick socks, jumper, long johns… OK, so you go into your house to get out of the cold, but, if you came to this article to get quick action, this is it. Keeping your body warmer reduces the direct need for your heating system to be turned up so high. Reducing the average temperature of your property by just 2 degrees Celsius will save you around £15 a month.
Turn Lights Off
It’s likely you’re already doing this one, as it’s such common sense that to do not do it would only add unnecessary pennies to your bill. Those pennies add up, and then they become pounds, and when those pounds add up, it really becomes noticeable. The best way to introduce a ‘turn the lights off when you leave the room’ agreement is to get everyone who lives in the house into one room and stage an intervention. For low traffic rooms, maybe you could even get a motion sensor if people are too forgetful – this is perfect for bathrooms.
Shower over bath
Remarkably, the average shower takes just one fifth of the water used to have a bath. That difference is huge not just for your water bill, but for the energy required to heat all of that water. Modern shower-heads now are even designed to use less water by dispersing the spray in different ways. Cut out baths and one of the answers to ‘How do I reduce my energy bills now’ will be achieved.
Digital Detox
Can you separate yourself from your phone, computer and TV for a couple of nights? Experts claim that millions of Brits go on regular ‘digital detoxes’ because the internet is so all-consuming. People are turning off their gadgets, unplugging their entertainment systems and focusing on love, friendship, reading and sleeping. The internet is so addictive that we often sell ourselves short on these four activities. Not only will you be more refreshed and fulfilled, your energy bill will drop.
Unplug appliances
In a different sense to the digital detox, unplugging your appliances is aimed more at ‘don’t keep things plugged in when you’re not using them’. So, ‘How can I reduce my energy bills now?’, has a very simple answer: don’t waste energy. All of your appliances plugged in, sat on standby but not being used, contribute to 10% of your energy bill. You might think only 10%, but that’s a big drop in the grand scheme of things, just for being a bit more proactive with power sockets! Being energy efficient is going to put some more cash in your pocket!
Smart Meter
Installing one of these cool little boxes on the wall is going to give you, your family or housemates, and your energy supplier, accurate real-time energy data. This data allows you to act immediately on your energy consumption and find ways to reduce it. If there are any electrical faults in your home, sucking up your energy, the smart meter will find out and report it to your supplier! Use the cool digital display to better manage and monitor the energy distribution in your home.
These are just our favourite ideas, but there are many more things you can do. Run a sink of water for the dishes, rather than keeping the tap running. Get an electric blanket instead of using heating through the night. Buy some timers for your appliances so they turn off when you leave the house for work. You have the creativity to find solutions.
Have we answered ‘How can I reduce my energy bills now?’ sufficiently? Get in touch if you have some better ideas for immediate savings.
Don’t delay switching your energy supplier. You can save up to £290 on your utility bills. How? My Energy will help you all the way through the process. Take the first step now, go to My Energy.
