Hybrid working has been widely adopted by households across the UK, meaning that more people are continuing to spend their days working from home.
As such, this means that they are consequently using more energy in their home-based offices, such as heating the radiators, boiling kettles and powering their office equipment.
While it is certainly a positive that the UK Government announced an energy bill price cap this winter, the cost of heating oil still remains to be significantly greater than it was at this time last year.
It is thus worth investigating the different ways in which UK households can try to reduce their energy bills this winter, saving money as well as helping to reduce carbon emissions.
- Tackle Open Draughts
The majority of homes in the UK are not new builds, meaning that it is likely that they will lose some heat through draughts – more specifically around doors, windows as well as gaps in the flooring.
While professional draught-proofing may cost around £200 upfront for materials and installation across a house, it will typically save homeowners around £25 each year on their energy bills.
- Upgrade Heating Controls
Over half of a typical UK household’s energy bill goes towards providing both heating and hot water. By upgrading or installing new heating controls, this can help to efficiently control the temperatures of your home without the need of replacing the entire boiler.
It is worth pursuing this if a home’s current heating controls are over 14 years old, as this can help to save around £75 a year on energy bills.
- Turn Down The Thermostat
Room thermostats are used to help to prevent your home from getting warmer than it needs to be. They thus reduce the heating in the room until it reaches the temperature set.
It is worth checking a rooms’ current set thermostat level. It may be able to be reduced down a few degrees Celsius to the lowest comfortable temperature between 18 to 21 degrees Celsius.
By reducing your thermostat down by even one degree will help to save up to £60 on yearly energy bills.
- Replace Inefficient Boilers
It is a fact that modern boilers are much more energy efficient than older boilers. If a boiler is over 10 years old, it is worth replacing it with a more energy efficient model.
Typically, a straightforward gas boiler replacement will cost around £2,300, while an oil boiler replacement may cost around £3,100.
- Insulate
Around a third of heat lost in an uninsulated home escapes through walls. As such, it is worth making sure walls are solid or cavity so that as much heat can be kept in as possible so that energy bills can be lowered.
Heat can also be lost through the bottom of a home. Further insulating under the floorboards can help to save around £40 a year.
Pipe insulation can additionally help to reduce the amount of heat lost so that water is kept hotter for longer, reducing the amount of energy needed to heat the water. This can help to save a further £10 a year on energy bills.
- Turn Off Standby
A quick and easy way to reduce the amount of energy used is by turning off appliances from their standby mode, either turning off their plug-in switch at the wall, or unplugging them altogether from the wall.
The majority of electrical appliances can be turned off standby without any interference to their settings. This can help to take off around £35 from yearly energy bills.
- Replace Lighting Bulbs
Switching to energy efficient bulbs such as LEDs can help to save energy this winter.
LED bulbs come in a variety of shapes, sizes and fittings. If all light bulbs in a home are replaced by LED bulbs, then it could help to save up to £40 a year.
- Monitor Water Use
The average UK household uses around 330 litres of water everyday. Ways in which water usage can be reduced include taking short showers instead of deep baths, swapping shower heads for efficient models as well as making sure that washing machines and dishwashers are full before using them.
