Help! Need to reduce energy bills

[cheshcat]

Any advice is gratefully received just put our meter readings in and have gone from being £80 in credit to £79 in debt. I don't want a massive bill with Christmas coming up, a car off the road and another big (expected) bill next month.

Very surprisingly, Our's uses 9l to do two days worth of crocks. There's no way I could wash up for less than that.

We swopped all our bulbs for led the bathrooms and kitchens went from 250w to 25w. For the first time oh and I are happy. She has enough light in each room and they use next to no energy.

Also if you have security lights look at changing them to LED as normal halogen ones can use 500 watts. Ours is 35 watt. We switch everything off don't have a microwave. Fridge / freezer is on the lowest settings 5 for the fridge and -17 for the freeze.

Heating is a fairly new boiler and again if it's the on it only runs at 18oC

We do use the drier etc at this time of year. Our total monthly bill is under £75.00 on DD.

Worth using one of those energy meters we got a free one. And provide regular meter readings.

And switch often. And do so using quidco or the other sites to get cash back. Switched broadband this year and between cash back and a sainsburys voucher we've saved £220. And will switch again at end of contract.

OMG .I have got to get mine down .it is a four bed detached AND I am paying 135 dual fuel . currently divorcing so cant sell house yet . will look into all suggestions . where is the best place to get electric heater things . heating is on for an half an hour mornings, then a couple of hours evening . we have gas centeral heating . new dishwasher. will change all the light bulbs .hardly ever use tumble .. onwards and upwards..

I wouldnt use electric to heat, it's 3 times the cost of gas.

You're better off switching rads off in rooms you dont use and only heating the hot water to 55c for half an hour a day.

I "chop" my heating, you put it on for half an hour then off for 20mins and then back on for half an hour then back off for 20mins etc. It's bonkers but in 20 minutes it stays pretty warm. I set a timer on my phone that dh calls my "saddo alarm".

Old fashioned stuff like draught proofing and closing the curtains at night etc is a cheap way of getting bills down, shutting the door to rooms that are heated.

If you buy led bulbs then keep the old one's for when you move, no reason why the new owners should have your bulbs.

That's weird Cherry - the NPower tips have the exact opposite of one of those tips - use the toaster not the grill!

The previous owners left us with a living room full of halogens, I calculated that replacing them with LEDs from Ikea paid for itself in 4 months (and that was with conservative usage estimates!)

Door curtains make a difference for us, and depending on the layout of your house and what control you have of the heating, sometimes having a heated underblanket on the bed at night, and the heating off entirely can make a saving.

There is a good deal via moneysavingexpertfor swapping to British Gas, it's a specially negotiated deal by MSE so you have to go via their switching pages but it's dead easy. Available to existing BG customers too.

www.moneysavingexpert.com/cheapenergyclub

yes switching this month as current deal ends on 19th November .Have a combi heater so will try and find the water thermostat and turn that down .What temp do you have your on to was thinking of 18 . is that too high .. checked lights and only need a few eco friendly ones. Do they do small screw ones or is it just large push and slot ones . Have swapped curtains back to heavy lined ones I hate and will try and get a curtain pole and curtain for front door. Thanks

You can switch 49 days before your deal ends penalty free, if you need to.

If you are making toast for several people it's definitely worth using the grill as you can do it all at once.
Only boil what you need in the kettle and just cover things like veg and pasta when cooking it.
If you are using the oven try to do more than one meal at a time and leave the oven door open afterwards so you benefit from heat in your room.
Don't dry washing on radiators, it makes the boiler work harder as all that evaporation cools the radiator down.

I got an energy meter from the library if they arnt on display then ask.
I condense the kids and ask them to play downstairs in the evening and just hear one floor. Draft excluders are a must around outside doors plus the fabric sand filled kind to block the under door draft.
Don't dry laundry on radiators too much it's really inefficient. Look at a heated dryer from Lakeland of you don't have a tumbler.
Don't put the heating on a timer.

compare energy prices, and switch to most affordable operator. This will reduce your energy bill. mycheaperenergy.co.uk