Ways to save money on your energy bills

The rising costs of energy bills across the United Kingdom has affected most households, some in more ways than others. To help you start to reduce how much energy you are using and to contribute to reducing your carbon footprint to help protect the planet, we have pulled together some top tips you can try out in your home.

Take some time to understand your energy bill

Your energy bill includes a wealth of information that can help you to understand how much gas and electricity you are using monthly and annually, what you are paying per unit and what tariff you are on and how long you are on it for. This information can help you to work out whether you are on the best rate for your household. Use it to help you compare against other energy providers rates or speak to your current provider to see if they have a better rate they can move you to.

Speak to your energy provider

Grants and schemes from energy suppliers

A number of energy suppliers offer grants to their own customers to help them pay off their debts.

Find out if your energy company offers grants

If you’re worried about paying your energy bills, contact your supplier

Under Ofgem rules, suppliers must work with you to agree a payment plan you can afford.You could ask for:

• A review of your current payments and debt repayments

• Payment breaks

• Access to hardship funds

• More time to pay.

Check whether you are eligible for any government schemes

Each year the government update what support is available to consumers on their energy bills. A good idea would be to check the government’s website to see if you are able to apply for any funding or support.

Find out what help is available

Improve energy efficiency in your home

Take energy appliances off standby

Try to turn off all appliances at the plug so they are not running in the background when not in use.

You can look to purchase energy saving plugs, which allow you to control the electricity supply from the socket to the appliance by using an app on your phone or a remote control. These are useful for sockets that are behind furniture, or televisions were it is not so easy to get to the back of and switch off all the plugs. If you want to do this with your television and connected devices and boxes, check with your network provider whether this affects recordings that may be set to occur if the box is switched off.

Find out which appliances use the most energy

Draught-proof your home

We can lose a lot of heat from our home through gaps around doors, windows, floors and chimneys, as well as a poorly insulated loft. While there is typically an upfront cost to repairing these parts of the home, long term you can save money on energy bills and reduce your carbon emission in doing so.

Learn about ways you can reduce heat loss in the home

Switch off your lights

Turning off lights when you leave a room will save over the year on energy bills. There is also the option of purchasing energy saving LED lightbulbs. According to Energy Saving Trust, if you were to replace all your bulbs with LED lights, you could reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by up to 50kg – the equivalent to the carbon dioxide emitted from driving your car around 145 miles!

Find out how to switch your lighting

Manage your washing load

It is recommend that you use your washing machine on a 30-degree cycle where possible and try to avoid half loads where you can. Maintaining your washing machine by running monthly service washes (hot water wash with no clothes in it), and not overloading the drum so it doesn’t damage, can help long term with keeping your machine for longer.

Shorten your showers and baths

Reduce your time in the shower to 4 minutes at a time and cut down on baths to save on hot water and electricity throughout the year.

Get energy savvy in the kitchen

Load the dishwasher so that you get the maximum use of the space available. While dishwashers use more energy than handwashing dishes, a Which? report found that an efficient full-size dishwasher used 10 times less water to wash the same amount of dishes as washing them by hand.

Don’t use the kettle to boil water to then put straight into a pan. It may save you a few minutes, but it wastes more energy than it does putting a cold pan of water onto a hob to heat up.

Consider batch cooking your meals for the week so you are only cooking a couple of times a week as opposed to every evening. Dry your clothes outside as much as possible, or purchase drying racks for within your home. Refrain from using a tumble dryer were you can as these appliances are the second most expensive item to run in the home after the washing machine.

Find more tips on saving energy in the kitchen

Learn more about what appliances cost the most money

Try our Energy Saving Home Improvement Tool with the Energy Saving Trust

We’ve worked with the Energy Saving Trust (EST) to bring you a tool for creating a personalised Energy Saving Improvement Plan. You can use it to help save on your energy costs by updating and renovating your property, making it more energy efficient.

Create your personalised plan

Independent services

There are also a number of independent organisations who can offer you support and advice if you’re worried about energy bills, or experiencing financial hardship.

Support from Citizens Advice

Citizens Advice offers support for people experiencing money and debt-related problems.We’ve partnered with them so that our customers can get free, fast, and confidential advice when they need it most. They also have lots of advice on their website, such as what to do if you think your energy bills are too high, or if you’re struggling to pay your prepayment meter.

Find out how you can get direct help from Citizens Advice

Debt fuel advice from the British Gas Energy Trust

The British Gas Energy Trust is an independent charitable organisation set up to support families and individuals struggling to pay their bills.They can point you in the direction of local advice centres, and offer grants to those most in need. Their Bounce Back Checklist can also tell you what support you might be entitled to.

You don’t need to be a British Gas customer to be eligible for support.

Visit the British Gas Energy Trust website

Advice from StepChange

StepChange is a UK charity which offers free debt advice based on an assessment of your situation, along with practical help and support.

Visit the StepChange website

Guidance from MoneyHelper

MoneyHelper is a service that provides free and impartial financial guidance for people across the UK. They also have easy-to-use money tools on their website, and lots of information on how to save money on your energy bills.

View MoneyHelper’s energy bill savings guide

Extra help with the Priority Services Register

You might be eligible for extra support from your energy supplier or network operator if you sign up to the Priority Services Register. You can sign up if you are disabled, have a long-term illness, or if you’ve reached the state pension age. You may also be eligible for other reasons that aren’t listed.

Your supplier or operator can help with things such as:

• Letting you know about planned power cuts in advance
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• Sending your bills to someone else (for example, a carer)
• Moving your pre-payment meter if you can’t access it safely
• Providing you with accessible information, e.g. your bills in large print or braille.

Learn more about the Priority Services Register on Ofgem’s website