Any energy saving tips?

woodbine

As we all know energy prices are about to vastly increase when the price cap increases to £2000 on April 1st.
With that in mind do any of you have energy saving tips that you might like to share?

One I read about yesterday was when you have done your washing put it back on drain  and spin, only takes 12 minutes for most machines and cuts your tumble drier time by upto 50%.

I'm sure many of you will have some ideas.

janer1967

Stay in bed under the duvet 

MarkM88

1) Take a shower instead of having a bath if you can. 

2) Turn lights off whenever you can. 

3) Try a jumper or your dressing gown before putting the heating on. 

4) Wash clothes on a lower temperature. 

5) Use a dish to fill water with when washing up dishes instead of using running water. 

6) Don’t leave items on standby. 

Lisatho11987777

I have a water meter for my water and they are both gas on my smart meter I only use 10p to fill my bath and I use 8p to have a shower so not much difference I only use 39.00 a month water which isn't so bad and now I only pay 105.00 a month for gas and electric so happy now 

MarkM88

That’s what I do with my kettle now, only put enough in for myself and no more. 

woodbine

We never had a smart meter my reasoning was that as we aren't on mains gas it would only be half useful. However when we changed suppliers to Eon 2 years ago part of the deal was that we had a smart meter for our electric, it certainly hasn't added between £4 and £6 a month to our bills, and it does save us from supplying readings or worse still getting estimated ones.

calcotti

woodbine said:

.. it certainly hasn't added between £4 and £6 a month to our bills, ..

We are all paying extra in our bills to fund the smart meter roll out regardless of whether or not we have a smart meter ourselves. The cost has been greatly increased, as I understand it, by the inefficient way in which the rollout was set up.

Along wit his various other levies on fuel bills imposed by the government the cost is not itemise day separately but allowed for within the standing charge and fuel rates charged.

woodbine

calcotti said:

woodbine said:

.. it certainly hasn't added between £4 and £6 a month to our bills, ..

We are all paying extra in our bills to fund the smart meter roll out regardless of whether or not we have a smart meter ourselves. The cost has been greatly increased, as I understand it, by the inefficient way in which the rollout was set up.

Along wit his various other levies on fuel bills imposed by the government the cost is not itemise day separately but allowed for within the standing charge and fuel rates charged.

thats as maybe but I maintain my spend on electricity hasn't increased, I'm sure it will soon but it hasn't yet.

once again we stray from the point of the OP

poppy123456

£39 per month for water? Yikes, that's a lot! Mine is only £23.

TheAlien

Leaving things on standby uses a lot of energy for no real benefit.

Try cooking with a slow cooker, you can make some very tasty meals and they are low energy consumption.

A tip that was shared a few years ago, if you boil a kettle, tip any leftover boiling water into a thermos flask and use that to make your hot drinks later.

Only charge your tech when it needs it and only for as long as you need to.  Even if its fully charged, it will still be drawing power if connected to a charger.

Invest in draught excluders if your doors don't fit well.

Make sure your boiler is serviced regularly to ensure its running efficiently.

Wear socks or put a blanket over your feet when sitting watching TV etc, if your feet are warm, you're less likely to feel cold.

Sandy_123

My water bill is is 39 a month.  I think its just being careful, like turning things off that are on standby, lights off in unused rooms, use heating when nessasary, instead of most the time. 

Lisatho11987777

@poppy123456 I shower mum at least 4 times a day as she has dementia also do alot of washing  its alot  cheaper than not haveing a meter 

calcotti

poppy123456 said:

£39 per month for water? Yikes, that's a lot! Mine is only £23.

Water charges do vary enormously.

OverlyAnxious

My water payments shot up this year, from £33 a month last year to £38 a month now.  Single person in a studio flat!  Admittedly I use a lot of water because of my conditions but never expected such a big increase.  Didn't think I'd used more than previous years...if anything I thought I'd used less as I haven't been able to wash a car for a couple of years now and stopped showering twice a day for at least 3 days a week (since I couldn't go shopping or deal with visits etc any more.)

I do wonder how much the 'small' differences to electric really make...  I try to charge my phone on cheap rate electric.  Each unit costs about two thirds of high rate.  But as I only charge it twice a week, 2 hours each time through a 5v(?) USB...I can only assume it pales into insignificance compared to the cooker or immersion heater every day!  I can't really use any less hot water unfortunately.  The main one I'm careful with is heating as I only have a convector which I know are fairly inefficient.  I've also had to stop using the washer dryer on cheap rate electric due to a shift in my problems (not physically able to load or unload and put away laundry later in the day so have to do it in the morning on high rate now)...expected a big increase in costs there but haven't seen one so far surprisingly.

calcotti

OverlyAnxious said:

Admittedly I use a lot of water because of my conditions but never expected such a big increase.  

If you have a medical condition that increases the need to use water and you are in receipt of benefits you may be able to get a cap on your bill from your water company. No harm in asking.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/water-supply/problems-with-paying-your-water-bill/watersure-scheme-help-with-paying-water-bills/

Lisatho11987777

I thought 39 00 was good for two of us  we were paying standard rate gorvour area eith out a meter 73.00 a month so very happy 

woodbine

Unmetered water bills are an odd thing, based on the old rateable values of a property.
Where possible it's often better for smaller families to have a meter installed.

SueHeath

janer1967 said:

Stay in bed under the duvet 

ha ha thats the sort of thing that pops into my head 

OverlyAnxious

calcotti said:

OverlyAnxious said:

Admittedly I use a lot of water because of my conditions but never expected such a big increase.  

If you have a medical condition that increases the need to use water and you are in receipt of benefits you may be able to get a cap on your bill from your water company. No harm in asking.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/water-supply/problems-with-paying-your-water-bill/watersure-scheme-help-with-paying-water-bills/

Thanks for this.  I've just checked and the cap would be £5 above my next years estimated total.  So not worth doing for me this time, but will be useful for others I'm sure.

calcotti

OverlyAnxious said: I've just checked and the cap would be £5 above my next years estimated total.  So not worth doing for me this time, but will be useful for others I'm sure.

An estimate is, of course, just that so it might still be worth applying for the cap in case you exceed the estimate. If you’re usage stay strong below the cap you will only pay for what you use.

Jamescasali

calcotti said:

OverlyAnxious said:

Admittedly I use a lot of water because of my conditions but never expected such a big increase.  

If you have a medical condition that increases the need to use water and you are in receipt of benefits you may be able to get a cap on your bill from your water company. No harm in asking.
https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/consumer/water/water-supply/problems-with-paying-your-water-bill/watersure-scheme-help-with-paying-water-bills/

Hi , single male unmetered 3 bed semi , went from paying 50 quid a month water to 14 quid a mth under the water sure scheme  run by severn trent, great scheme, but its not widely publisised

But you do have to be struggling financially and provide  either bank statements or do  income and expenditure to be considered