Top Tips That Could Potentially Save Money on Your Energy Bills

For months the news cycle has been full of stories about energy prices, with households up and down the country looking for ways to heat their home as efficiently as possible.

Our areas of expertise include energy efficiency, and eco-friendly products like low-flow shower heads, and one thing we know is that using less also means spending less!

With this in mind, we thought that we would be well placed to share some tips that could save your household money over the coming months.

All of these tips will see your household use less water or energy, so you’ll be doing your bit for the planet at the same time!

An extremely leaky toilet is among the most wasteful issues that can crop up in your household. By some estimates, a leaky toilet could waste a staggering 146,000 litres of water a year. 

There is a method that you can use to check your toilet for leaks, simply add a few drops of food colouring into the toilet tank and wait an hour. If the coloured water reaches the toilet bowl, this indicates that there is a leak.

Considering energy usage, it costs roughly £5 to heat an average sized room to 18 degrees for a day. Assuming that bleeding your radiators makes them just 10% more efficient, this could lead to hundreds of pounds in savings in the long term.

For an average two-bedroom house, using inefficient radiators over the six autumn and winter months could add roughly £450 to your bills.

You can read our blog for information on how to bleed a radiator, and for advice on choosing the right radiator for you.

A lot of household water usage is through taps or shower heads, but another large chunk is used when we flush the toilet several times each day.

When it comes to toilets that are better for the environment and cost less money per flush, it pays to be modern.

Some older models use much as 13 litres of water every single time they are flushed, a huge waste in comparison to some low flow toilets which are specifically designed to use as little as 3 litres. Split flush buttons can also reduce toilet water consumption by letting you decide how much water is needed – typically using around 4-6 litres.

The saving on each individual flush is obviously tiny but can quickly add up over the year. Working on a presumed average of five flushes per day, an upgraded toilet using 3 litres per flush instead of 13 litres can save approximately £170 every year.

Data from The Bathroom Showroom suggests that the average person in England is likely to be paying 16p extra a day for showers in 2022 – roughly an extra £55 per year for every person that showers daily.

The average shower time for a person in the UK is around eight minutes per shower and cutting this down can make a big difference to your finances.

Slashing your showering time in half to four minutes can save each person more than £100 over the course of a year – that’s almost £500 in savings for a typical family of four! 

Whether it’s charging your phone over night or leaving your TV on standby, we’re all guilty of leaving our devices plugged in while we are not using them. This is a wasteful habit as it ultimately wastes energy.

Just by remembering to switch all entertainment devices like TVs and chargers in your home off at the plug, you could save yourself around £55 a year. 

A word of caution, be sure to ignore all advice that tells you to turn off essential devices like your fridge or freezer though, as these are designed to be kept on at all times.

Energy saving campaigners have long advocated washing at 30C and switching to a different wash cycle can be a real money-saver.

Barring situations where you are washing something that specifically needs a hot wash, 30C should work for you. Opting for a 30C wash once a week is usually enough and can save almost £30 a year.