Become More Energy Efficient – 8 tips to lower your electricity bill
It may feel difficult to know where to start when it comes to managing your household costs in relation to the higher electricity prices. Besides for reviewing your electricity contract, what else can you do to save costs? The good news is that there are actually a lot of simple and effective tricks to reduce your electricity costs at home. Read our most energy-efficient tips below!
1. Sealing strips and insulation
One of the most efficient ways to save electricity – and money – is to make sure that your house is properly insulated and retains the heat produced. For example, radiators that heat an uninsulated attic or an outdoor storage room are big energy thieves. The same applies if you have underfloor heating but have poor bottom insulation. So make sure that the rooms and surfaces you are heating are insulated.
Another tip is to check the sealing strips around windows and doors. If these are old and worn, it can result in cold air from outside entering the house. By sealing the gaps around these, you can prevent drafts and cold air from entering your home.
Sealing strips and accessories
2. LED-lights
If you use traditional incandescent bulbs in your lighting, you should replace them with modern LED bulbs. LED bulbs, halogen and low-energy bulbs provide more lighting per kWh, and are therefore a good investment for your home and wallet. An LED bulb consumes, on average, about 80% less electricity than traditional incandescent bulbs, and also lasts longer.
3. Smart cooking
Cooking is a necessary part of life and something that we all have to do, usually on a daily basis. But there are things you can do to save electricity when cooking.
Batch cooking
If you need to cook, take the opportunity to make a lot of food, referred to as batch cooking. Then you won’t need to stand and cook every day, and you can just heat the food quickly in the microwave. It also saves you a lot of time!
Boil water
When bringing water to the boil in a saucepan, we advise you to do so with the lid on. The water will boil faster and you can save up to 80% of the energy consumption.
However, our best tip for boiling water is to invest in a kettle if you don’t already own one. Boiling water in a kettle saves you even more energy!
4. Conserve hot water
You can save a lot of money by minimising and optimising your hot water usage.
Flow restrictors
The easiest way to conserve hot water is to fit flow restrictors and tap aerators to your showers and taps. Flow restrictors and shower handles with a water saving feature effectively reduce the consumption of water and heat, saving you a lot of energy.
Flow restrictors are fitted between the shower mixer and the shower hose, and can reduce the flow to 6 l/min. The shower handles you will find in our range can help reduce your water consumption by up to 30%. In other words, a really smart electricity investment!
No long singing in the shower
It’s easy to figure out that the longer and hotter you shower, the higher your electricity bill will be. One 20-minute shower a day can result in energy consumption of up to 6000 kWh per year. So, halving your showering time can halve your energy consumption.
Maybe it’s a good idea to set a showering timer? Or take the opportunity to shower at the gym after working out?
Turn off running water!
Never let the water run when brushing your teeth or shampooing your hair. Turn off the water as fast as you can and only use it when you need to!
Don’t have a dishwasher and need to wash dishes by hand? Then fill the sink with water and dishwashing liquid and start hand washing the cleanest dishes first, and then move on to the dirtier ones. Then rinse off all the dishes to get rid of the dishwashing liquid. Never wash dishes under running water!
5. Full machine or no machine!
When running the dishwasher or washing machine, you should make sure they are full before starting them. If you have a modern machine, you can usually select the eco program option, which is more energy-efficient. Washing your laundry at 40 °C is normally sufficient.
Another tip is to run your machines during the night. The price of electricity is usually lower at night, which you can take advantage of by programming the dishwasher and washing machine to start and run at night.
Dry without a tumble dryer
If you are able to dry your laundry on a washing line or a drying rack, do so instead of running your tumble dryer or using a drying cabinet. It takes a little longer for the laundry to dry, but you’ll save some money!
6. Turn off standby
If you have older electronic devices in your home, there is a risk that these will draw electricity even on standby. The most energy-efficient thing to do is to turn off these devices fully by holding down the power button.
7. Keep radiators clear
Make sure to keep the area in front of your radiators and heaters clear, so that heat can spread freely throughout the home. If you place large pieces of furniture or heavy curtains in front of a radiator or heater, the heat will not spread as efficiently.
8. Use your stove or fireplace
If you have a working stove or fireplace, you can count yourself lucky! You can also mount an air and heat diffuser, which effectively transfers heat from one room to another.
Another hot tip is to place a stove fan on top of the stove. The fan is powered by the heat from the stove and spreads warming heat through the room.
