Follow our practical tips to save energy and money at home.

A few simple changes to the way you do things around the house can make a difference to your energy bills and your carbon footprint.

These quick tips are the perfect way to trim your energy bills, especially if you’ve done all the big stuff, like improving your insulation and draughtproofing, or if you can’t tackle those just now.

Recommended for you

Visit our other sections to help you save energy at home:

Switch to LEDs

Replace old-style bulbs (e.g. incandescent, halogen, curly low-energy bulbs).

Don’t wait until they blow. We recommend replacing them now – they’re using more power and costing you more.

Read our guide to LEDs >>

Boil what you need

Don’t boil more water than you need in your kettle, as it uses quite a bit of energy.

Do fill to the minimum level marked your kettle, though, so you don’t burn it out!

Don't leave electricals on standby

Turn off your electricals when you’re not using them.

You’d be surprised how much power they’re still using on standby. It all adds up over the year.

Use less hot water

Heating your water costs you money and uses energy. Here are a few ways to use less hot water:

  • Wash up in a bowl
  • Take shorter showers
  • Have showers instead of baths

Do laundry less often

Could you save up your laundry a little longer and do one less wash each month? Or even one less wash a week, if you use your machine a lot. They use power to run and heat water, so you’ll trim your bill by using it less.

Turn lights off

It doesn’t come more simple than this tip… turn off lights when you’re not in the room!

Check your boiler

Get your boiler serviced regularly, to check it’s running efficiently and is set up properly.

Use your controls

Use your central heating controls effectively, or get them installed if you don’t have any. Programmers, room thermostats and thermostatic radiator valves make it a lot easier for you to control the temperature – even in each room.

Video: Tips on using your heating controls >>

Factsheet: Central heating controls >>

Turn down by 1 degree

Turn your thermostats down by one degree.

You probably won’t even notice the difference, yet this tip will slice the most off your bills.

Not sure what uses watt?

Do you want to know how much it costs to run different electrical goods?

Our factsheet explains how to work it out, so you can see how much various appliances are adding to your bill. You might be surprised!

Factsheet-What uses watt

More tips

Here are just a few sites recommended by CAfS for more energy-saving advice:

Energy Saving Trust

Simple Energy Advice

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