No one was laughing when Ofgem announced it was increasing its price cap on April Fools Day. And sadly they weren’t joking either.
GoCompare Energy warned that some households could be paying 54 per cent more for their gas and electricity bills at a time when inflation means wages are being stretched in a way not experienced for 40 years.
With every penny counting, half-truths abound about how to save energy around the home.
So if you’re not sure whether to flick off the light switch or not, let us illuminate you by answering 10 essential questions about saving energy in the home.
1. Should you be switching off the light switches when you leave the room?
“Yes,” says Andy Smale, Technical Director at Expert Energy. While there is a rumour that turning them on and off all the time uses more energy than leaving them on, Smale says: “That was only an issue with old fluorescent strip lights which used up enough power on startup to run the light for a very short time, but even then the advice was the same: switch if off, assuming you were leaving the room for more than 30 secs.”
Traditional light bulbs and modern LED lights don’t take any extra energy to turn on, so you should always turn your lights off when you’re not using them, or when you leave a room. “This will save you around £20 a year on your annual energy bills and 16 kg of CO2, the equivalent to driving 61 miles from London to Canterbury,” adds Brian Horne, senior insight & analytics consultant at Energy Saving Trust. Replacing all the lights in your home with LED bulbs could help you save even more.
2. Is it cheaper to boil water for pasta in an electric kettle or a pan on a hob?
Ahh, the age old cooking conundrum. Who wins in the race to boil? “Kettles are more efficient than a hob for heating water,” says Horne. “As the kettle is heated from the inside whereas the pan is heated from the outside.”
According to Energy Saving Trust, if you boil only the water you need in your kettle, you could save yourself £11 a year on your energy bills and 9 kg of CO2.
