Hello again, I’m regularly asked questions around saving money on gas and electric bills. So much so that I thought I would write a short blog post. I suppose it’s not too different to when you ask a taxi driver whether they’ve had a busy day, I’m probably also asked this question on a daily basis as well 😁
Here’s one of the myths straight away. Have you been told that leaving your heating on constantly but low temperature is fuel efficient? This has got to be the most asked question relating to savings that I get asked. Wrong, set a timer on your heating and have it come on an hour before you get out of bed, maybe an hour and half. Then have it come back on later that day, say 4pm so when you get home the house is warm. If your at home during the day then set a third timer for late morning to give a bit of a heat boost. If you have a gas fire in your living room then just use this instead. Your living room will get warm very quickly, just make sure you keep the doors closed so the heat doesn’t escape into other rooms or upstairs as heat rises.
Everyone should make sure their on the best energy tariff. It’s quite surprising as to how many people don’t switch when their existing deal ends. Or they do switch but then don’t switch again so you saved money for a year or two but then your back to square one again. It literally takes 5 minutes to do it on a comparison site and your saving money straight away. There’s no need to be fancy and search for the cheapest of the cheapest via 5 comparison sites. Just use one comparison site and start saving money, you can get fancy next time around so don’t let the thought of searching lots of time consuming deals put you off. I think there’s this thought that it’s difficult or that you’ve been with British Gas for 20 years so your a loyal customer. If your a loyal customer then why is your bill higher than new customers??
There’s lots of other little things you can do that you can do to keep those costs down. Did you know that if you own your own home then energy suppliers will supply and fit cavity wall and loft insulation worth up to £1,000 free of charge? This alone can save you up to £500 per year on energy costs.
Here’s some tricks that you can do without having to do something online. Pulling your curtains across at night, really easy but do you do it? You can loose upto 25% of your heat via your windows, especially in the winter. If you have a chimney then seal it. Those electric halogen heaters, look great when you read it says between 15 – 30 pence per hour depending on the kilowatt. That actually adds up really quickly and it’s a double whammy if your on a standard energy tariff.
Most radiators have a thermostat which adjusts the temperature. Turn them off or keep them low in rooms that you don’t use like spare rooms. Touch your radiators to see if there’s any spots that are cold. If there is cold spots then make sure the radiator is bled of air. You can buy radiator keys from most supermarkets for a few pounds. Do a quick search on YouTube to find a tutorial on how to bleed the air from a radiator. This will make a big difference to how warm your room feels, keeping the heating switched on for shorter periods.
If your radiators still have cold spots then this could indicate that your heating system needs a power flush to remove sludge from it. If only the odd radiator is being effected then it may be a case of replacing the radiator. This isn’t an expensive job and again could make a big room temperature change. It’s also worth noting that if you have a sofa or other items up against a radiator then pull these a good foot away to allow the heat to circulate the room.
In practice, making just some of these changes will see a reduction in your energy bills, in turn allowing you to spend your hard earned money on yourself and not your heating costs.
Thanks for your time and until next time, stay safe.
Robbie