If you’re looking for ways to reduce your monthly energy bills then you’re in the right place as I’ve got lots of tips for you today – including one to get £50 off your bill!
Switch to save money and get £50 off your energy bill
Shall we get straight to the tip where you can save £50? I switched to Bulb a good few months ago as I’d hear good things about them. Not only is their Trust Pilot score a whopping 9.5 out of 10 but they’re also the UK’s largest Green energy company which means that I was confident I was going to get good customer service and that I could be happy that the energy I was using was better for the environment. Oh, and it’s obviously cheaper than my previous supplier otherwise there would have been no point switching, would there? 😉
I’ve had a great experience with Bulb from the time I clicked onto their site – it was super easy to switch with no hassles and I’ve had a monthly email from them detailing what my bill was, what it’s made up of and also some information on how much good I’ve done for the environment by using green energy.
I’m not working with Bulb or anything but I do have a refer a friend code that you can use so we’ll both get £50 credit on our next bill if you do sign up. It’s definitely worth having a look to see how it compares to your current provider and if it’s looking like it would be better for you, as it was for us, then you might want to sign up. Here’s my refer a friend code.
And even if you don’t want to switch to Bulb, do have a look and see if you can save money with another energy company by comparing prices. Always use a cashback site like TopCashBack to do the comparison – they have a £30 cashback offer on if you switch through USwitch and if you’re not already a member you also get a £5 pre-paid MasterCard too when you sign up with this link. (Correct at time of writing 09.02.19)
Learn to understand your bill
My bill from Bulb is more detailed than the one I used to get from my previous supplier and it helps me to understand a bit more about our energy usage. It’s a bit like your monthly budget in a way – it’s hard to identify that you need to cut down and how you can do that if you don’t understand what you currently have coming in and going out. Once you know the position you’re in right now, you can identify what you can do to improve things.
Turn your heating down by 1 degree
Seriously, do this right now! You probably won’t notice the difference in the actual temperature but you absolutely will when your bills come through as that one measly little degree could reduce your heating bill by up to 10%. I’m not one to be cold so I would turn the heating on rather than layer up with extra socks, thick jumpers and blankets but I’ve easily managed to turn our heating down by a couple of degrees without feeling cold at home.
Stop with the half loads
One wash in your washing machine uses less energy than two half loads no matter how efficient your washing machine is. I tend to do three big washes on a weekend – one for whites, one for darks and one coloured wash. I also pop all the towels in once a week and change the bedding every two weeks but again, I only run when there’s a full load. I do have a washing machine with a huge drum though so I can fit more than the average wash load in there which really helps me.
Wash at a lower temperature
While we’re on the subject of the washing machine, if you wash at a lower temperature then you’ll reduce the running costs. I wash almost everything on a 30 c wash and never have an issue.
Ditch the drier
A tumble drier costs around 35p an hour to run which doesn’t seem like much at all, does it? But when you consider how often you might use yours then it quickly adds up and can represent a pretty big chunk of your energy bill. I gave mine away years ago and I’m so pleased I did because there was an instant reduction on my energy bills as soon as I stopped using it.
I totally get why people love their tumble driers and if you love yours then that’s cool, just consider the alternatives and see if there’s a cheaper option that could work for you.
Cut the shower short
One minute less in your shower could save you up to £7 a year. Again not much when you look at it initially but then consider that this is per person in your house and then there’s also the additional savings on the water (if you’re on a water meter) which could mean that, as a family, you save around £75 a year for getting out of the shower just one minute sooner. We’ve worked on this one loads recently as we’ve been trying hard to cut our water bills so we have a little egg timer in our shower now so we’ve absolutely nailed this one.
Get a Smart Meter
Smart meters are being rolled out across the UK and your energy supplier should have more information about them as they’re responsible for providing them I believe. A smart meter not only automatically sends readings to your energy provider but it also gives you live data about how much energy you’re using. Having a smart meter will mean your bills are more accurate and hopefully, the ability to see real-time stats about your usage will encourage you to be more conscious about your usage and give you a better understanding of how you can cut down.
Make your home a smart home
Something we’re considering for this year is the heating control system that you can get from Hive. We’ve been wanting it for a while but the initial cost has always meant that it’s not our top priority but this year, we’re saving for a new boiler and I think we’ll get the Hive system at the same time. Being able to control your heating from your phone means that we can come home to a warm home without having the heating on all day and also that we can just heat certain areas of the house which is great.
Don’t forget the obvious tips that you absolutely KNOW you should be doing
We all know we should be using energy efficient light bulbs and turning lights off when we’re not in the room. We also know that appliances shouldn’t be left on standby when not in use and that we should be dealing with any drafts from windows and doors. We know these things but do we do them?
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