As spring brings lighter evenings and warmer weather, it's a good time to rethink your home energy use.
The government's £400 Energy Bill Support Scheme has come to an end, along with other winter energy funds, so bills are set to rise by at least 20%.
Understanding how your home uses energy and spotting the ways to reduce it has never been so important. Especially when there are free and easy ways to benefit from the change of season.
Wasted energy makes up 30% of the average energy bill - do something about it! Get more from your smart meter with Loop.
Rethink your heating
A study by Loop and Nesta revealed that 74% of gas used in households is spent on heating. It also uncovered that by April, exactly half of respondents had turned their heating off and the other half hadn’t. However, both sets reported high levels of comfort.
Rethinking how you’re heating your home during the warmer months, is a great first step to some big savings.
While most people adjust their heating according to the weather, it’s very easy to forget to change it when the weather warms up, especially if your heating is on an automatic timer. Loop users who turned their heating off by mid-April used 10% less gas than those who kept it on.
If you aren’t ready to stop using your heating completely, try using it for an hour less a day, or turn down your thermostat temperature by a few degrees. Your house will be warmer in spring and not overheating it could save up to £300 a year.
Spring-clean your usage
Spring cleaning has benefits beyond just tidying up your home. Decluttering and maintaining your appliances can keep them in good working order and improve their efficiency.
Clean windows to let in natural light, wash the washing machine filter, and dust off lights and appliances for optimal performance.
Ensure your fridge is set at 5 degrees Celsius or lower and there's a 10cm gap behind it for better heat flow. Give your freezer some TLC too by defrosting it. Clean the radiator on the back of your fridge or fridge/freezer to help it shed heat more easily, so it won’t have to work as hard to stay cool.
Do some energy-saving DIY
There are some simple and inexpensive home DIY projects that can help you save energy all year long. Benefit from those longer, lighter evenings and bank holiday weekends!
Adding lagging around pipes is an easy win that can save you around £10 a year on your energy bills for a cost of around £20, depending on your house size.
Another quick and cost-effective improvement is switching to LED bulbs. They can cost as little as £1 and if you’re swapping from incandescents, could save you up to £15 each year per bulb!
Understand your Phantom Load
While you're cleaning your house, don't forget to turn off any devices that are running unnecessarily. Although some appliances like fridges or freezers need to be left on all the time, many other devices don't. The invisible energy drained by these appliances that are left on is called your Phantom Load. It can be categorised in two ways.
- The things you know are on but don’t know what they’re costing - like smart speakers, set-top boxes or electric underfloor heating.
- The things you switch on and forget about - like extra fridges/freezers or electric towel rails.
Wasted energy accounts for around 30% of the average energy bill, but it doesn’t have to and that’s where Loop can help. By identifying which things are using the most energy, Loop can help you make informed decisions about how to reduce your usage and bils.
• • •
Cut your energy bill with Loop
Loop is a FREE energy-saving app that links to your smart meter, analyses your energy use and shows you easy ways to save. On average, Loop users cut their electricity use by 16% and their gas use by 10%! How much could you save?
