With the energy price cap set to rise by 10% from October 1, it’s going to cost households more to use the same amount of energy. Here are four tips to save hundreds on your bill
As the autumn chill starts to bite, many are contemplating whether to crank up the heating.
With Ofgem’s 10 percent increase in the energy price cap from October 1, households will be paying more for the same amount of energy.
This price cap hike is expected to add an extra £12 to bills each month, totalling nearly £150 a year. National housebuilder St Modwen Homes has revealed four easy tricks that could help cut your energy bills by over £550 this winter.
Besides the obvious advice of lowering your thermostat and layering up, there are other simple, quick hacks to save on energy costs this winter. Alison Maclean, Head of Marketing at St Modwen Homes, shares their expert tips, reports the Daily Record.
How to save £550 on energy bills
Bleed your radiators before the cold weather hits
Over time, air bubbles can build up in radiators, reducing their efficiency. By bleeding these radiators, you can remove the excess air and boost the efficiency of your home’s heating without cranking up the thermostat.
How to bleed a radiator
This easy hack, which takes just a few minutes, can reduce your energy bills by up to 20%, saving nearly £350 a year.
- Turn your boiler off – Do this first of all and then allow sufficient time for any radiators to cool, ensuring you’re not coming into contact with boiling water
- Get your bleed key – if you don’t have one, you can get them in most hardware DIY shops
- Open the bleed valve – use your key to turn the valve a quarter turn anti-clockwise. Position a towel or bowl underneath the valve just in case water comes out
- Close the bleed valve – don’t worry about the hissing noise, it’s just air escaping
- Once the hissing stops, close the valve again.
This simple hack which takes no longer than a few minutes can reduce your energy bills by up to 20% which equates to nearly £350 a year.
Turn off vampire appliances
Switching off standby plugs could help you save around £40 a year on so-called vampire appliances. It’s not just about unused lamps or kitchen items like toasters and kettles, turning off appliances at the wall, rather than leaving them on standby, helps reduce energy outputs.
If you find it hard to remember to do this daily, buying smart plugs and timers can manage this automatically – or you could set yourself a daily reminder on your smartphone or smart home technology.
Don’t heat empty rooms for no reason
Most, if not all UK homes will have a radiator in every room of the house, but not all rooms will be in use all the time.
For instance, you may have a spare bedroom that is untouched for most of the week, or perhaps a bathroom that only gets use when guests come over. .
It’s crucial to turn radiators off in the most-unused rooms of the house. This simple hack can cut 4.5% from Brits’ energy bills, meaning an extra £50 off!
Heat yourself up, not the room
All of the previous hacks are aimed at reducing energy usage or being smarter with how your energy is used throughout your home. However, it is possible to get by without turning your energy on at all – that’s if you’re savvy and don’t mind layering up at home.
A one-off payment for an electric blanket will mean you’re warm at night and can cost as little as 3p an hour to use, in comparison to a whopping 22p per hour for standard energy supplies.
By doing the maths, using an electric blanket instead of cranking up the heating during the UK’s winter months could save you a cool £136.80. Even with the cost of an electric blanket starting at just £24.99, you’re still pocketing over £110 in savings!
