UK households spend £1.9bn on lighting every single year. Rumours persist that turning a light on and off requires an energy surge which is more expensive than turning the lights off at all. Unfortunately, this is just a rumour and the amount of energy wasted on unnecessary lighting is astonishing. If every UK household replaced one light bulb with an energy efficient one the money saved could pay for 75,000 household fuel bills.

Try replacing washing machines and other large appliances with Energy Saving Recommended models. Running a full Energy Saving Recommended washing machine is more economical than washing by hand. If your house is well insulated and warm, get rid of your tumble drier (one of the most energy inefficient of all appliances) and buy a clothes rack.

Make sure that your thermostat is as low as possible. By reducing your thermostat by just 1C you will save an average of £65 a year on your heating bill, enough to buy two good jumpers. A slow reduction in the temperature of your house is easier than a quick drop, so if you take it down a degree, in a couple of months you might find that you’re happy to lose another degree.
If you have a boiler that has a programmer or timer connected to it, make sure that it’s not on all day. If you want to come home to a warm house, program the boiler to come on just before you return. Further, don’t waste money by heating the house when you are in bed, make sure that the heating is set to turn off before you go to sleep, and if you are cold in bed another blanket is much cheaper than keeping the heating on.

Keep an eye on the temperature of your hot water tank. There is no need for the thermostat to be set above 60 degrees, if it is then you’re needlessly wasting money. Bear in mind, however, that your boiler is not like your house thermostat, don’t reduce it below 60C in an attempt to save money as you will only expose yourself to the risk of legionella.

One final thing to consider is to make sure that you bleed your radiators from time to time to remove unwanted air from the heating system and keep your radiators working at their most efficient. Make sure that the heating system is turned off when you bleed the radiators so that more air isn’t inadvertently drawn into the system. You should also consider having your boiler serviced regularly, and if so consider signing a service contract with a company like British Gas to further reduce costs (see the British Gas website for more on their range of heating products). Regularly servicing your boiler will keep it operating at maximum efficiency and should mean that it uses as little energy as possible to get up to temperature.