REDUCING YOUR ENERGY BILLS

Energy-saving tips and tricks from local businesses.

It’s no surprise to hear that energy bills are becoming unaffordable for most people in the UK. With the cap set to £2,500 a year for the average household, our energy rates are still on the rise which means we are having to make changes to our lifestyle in order to save those pennies. We have teamed up with a few brilliant local businesses to find out how you can reduce your bills this Autumn/Winter.

Making small changes to your lifestyle can be just as effective as investing in energy-efficient systems. We recommend doing a mix of both in order to save the most amount of money in the long and short term whilst the rates are so high. These tips not only help your bank balance but they also help the planet!

Small Solutions

These small solutions may sound silly and obvious but can make a huge difference to your utility bills by the end of the month.

1. Turn off all appliances from the plug when they are not in use, this could save you £30 a year.

2. Wrap up warm and turn the heating down. Pile on the jumpers or wrap a blanket around you to keep your body heat in. Turning the heating down by just 1 degree could save you up to £80 a year!

3. Turn off all lights when you’re not in the room. I know that it may feel homely with a few lights on around the house but you’re not in the room, turn them off. This will help to reduce your carbon footprint too.

4. Boil just enough water for your brew. It takes a lot longer to boil a full kettle meaning more electricity is being used to power it for a longer period of time.

5. Cut your showers down by at least 1 minute. Shaving off 1 minute from your shower time could save you £7 a year per person. Just think how much you could be saving by being super speedy!

6. Avoid the tumble dryer as they are costly appliances that are not very ocean-friendly.

7. Washing your clothes on a ‘no heat’ setting or at 30 degrees will be cheaper than hotter washes and try to wash large loads, less often.

Long-term Investments

Spending money on energy-saving systems and appliances may seem counter-productive at first but you will begin to see a reduction in your bills sooner than you think. That being said, binning perfectly good appliances for higher energy-efficiency appliances won’t save you much money and becomes very wasteful. Be vigilant, shop locally and you will begin to see a reduction in no time.

1. Install a smart thermostat in your home. Smart thermostats can be controlled by your smartphone even if you are not in the house. They can be set to turn on automatically meaning the heating can be off during the night and come on just before you wake up meaning you’re not freezing cold in the mornings. They are brilliant at keeping track of how much you’re spending each month. You can connect these to your smart lightbulbs or thermostatic radiator valves to allow full control of your home from your phone. SWAYE Electrical can fit and advise on smart thermostat systems and will always help you to choose the best option for your home in order to save you money.

2. External Wall Insulation, or EWI is a cost-effective way of reducing the amount of heat escaping from your home. Richard Brown Plastering is a local plasterer offering external wall insulation with over 20 years of experience. EWI systems could warm your building rapidly and trap the heat in meaning you will be spending less money on heating. It also has other positives such as, eradicating damp and condensation, reducing external noise and requires minimal maintenance to look attractive.

3. When it’s time to throw away your old appliances, look for a new one with a high energy-efficiency rating. An example of this is: an A+++ fridge freezer will save around £320 in energy bills over its lifetime compared to an A+ model.

4. For Electric Vehicle chargers, Hive has a new and more efficient EV charger which allows you to track how much you’re spending per charge. You can also just plug it in and it will automatically begin charging when electricity rates are at their lowest, usually between
12am – 5am.

5. Insulating your loft will help to shave around £135 off your energy bills each year for the typical semi-detached house. Although loft insulation is a pricey investment to make, you will be surprised how cost-effective Plymouth Access 4 Lofts insulation solutions are. Plymouth Access 4 Lofts are a local loft ladder & insulation company who can supply and install insulation to save your pocket as well as the planet.

6. Double-glazing windows and doors reduces the amount of heat escaping from your home, they also dampen any unwanted noise.

7. Broken or faulty doors and windows let a lot of cold air flow through the house. The Door Doctor, based in Plymouth, is always on-hand to fix any doors and windows to ensure the heat stays inside your home this winter.

8. Monitor your usage by using a SmartMeter. You will be able to work out where you’re spending more money and where you can cut back to save money.

A short interview with Ashley Ward from SWAYE Electrical:

Q.1. Can you recommend 1 simple way of reducing electrical energy and appliance bills in the average family home?

A. Replace any lighting you can with LED replacements. Have your heating and hot water on a timeclock, or even buy a hive system, so you can control your heating from an app on your phone. Have motion sensors instead of light switches to prevent lights from being left on.

Q.2. Can you explain how a master switch works and how much they cost to install through SWAYE Electrical?

A. You can also organise your home or business to have a ‘last man out’ switch, which cuts power to all circuits that don’t need to be on overnight when most of us are asleep. It is a little more complicated from an electrical point of view, but can save a substantial amount of energy and money. This works either remotely with a wireless switch or a phone app, which would be wired adjacent to your fuse board and connected onto individual circuits. You can leave such circuits on 24/7 such as your fridge freezer, smoke alarms and heating system, but the rest can be switched off.

These are just some of the very simple and effective ways to keep the lights on and your home warm at a more affordable cost.

Advice if free from SWAYE Electrical, so please call or email us with your questions and I will try my best to ease your worries and save you money.
INFO@SWAYEELECTRICAL.COM
01752 200496 / 07583 425158

A short interview with Mick Quick from Tech Surveys:

Q.1. Can you recommend 1 sure fire way of keeping heat in your home this autumn?

A. (Loft insulation) any insulation over 100mm is going to save money by keeping the heat in, head to our Facebook page to find out the benefits of loft insulation and why you should have it.

Q.2. Can you give 1 or 2 examples of things you can buy or do in your home to lower energy and heating bills?

A. (Heating) ensure that you have Programmer, Room Stat and TRV (thermostatic radiator valves) with all three of these installed you will be saving money also try to keep it set at 21° not higher as this will also save money.
(lighting) replace all old lighting with new LED, a single tungsten/halogen can be the same equivalent as 10 LED bulbs in both money sent and power used to light it. Also you could try occupancy sensing in bathrooms and hallways as these lights are often left on and wasting money.

mick@techsurveys.co.uk
01752 936236

Tip: Be careful of scams out there trying to get you to ‘save money’ on utility bills.

By following these handy tips and ideas, we hope you can save more money on your bills this winter to ease impact of the rising energy rates.