Quick Tips for Taming Your Winter Energy Bill Blues

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Simple Home DIY: Quick Tips for Taming Your Winter Energy Bill Blues

Even allowing for a mild winter period, energy bills can still easily get out of hand for many of us who feel the cold and like to keep the house warm. The energy tariff charged can vary quite dramatically between households and research shows that you may well be paying more for your gas and electric than you have to, which is why initiatives like switching suppliers is always something to consider.

Check your insulation

A poorly insulated homes will be a constant drain on your finances and you will feel colder than you have to if there is a draught coming from your windows or doors.

If you were hoping to get some help under the government’s Green Deal initiative, unfortunately you are too late, as applications have now been closed for anyone wanting financial assistance from the Green Deal Finance Company set up for this purpose.

It is still worth financing a few DIY projects yourself, which won’t cost fortunes but could make a difference to your home and your energy bills. Loft insulation is a real no-brainer and is one of the easiest ways of insulating your home, so check whether you have any existing insulation in the roof space and whether it needs replacing or updating.

Loft insulation could cost you roughly £200 for an average home and could save you up to £250 in reduced heating costs, so this is a DIY project which should effectively pay for itself in no time.

Lower your thermostat

If you bear in mind that every one degree you lower your thermostat equates to a saving of up to 3% on your energy bill, this should be a good incentive to lower the dial a notch or two.

Lower your thermostat by four degrees, which is perfectly manageable when you get used to it, you will almost certainly trim your annual energy bills by upwards of 10%, which is a significant saving. You might also want to consider updating to a smart thermostat, which offers you the chance to take even greater control of your heating settings and could achieve savings of between 20% and 30% according to manufacturer’s promises.

The reason they make your home energy more efficient is that a smart thermostat learns your habits and knows when you need heating and when you don’t. You can even control your home heating via a smartphone app if you want to, so you have much greater control and flexibility than manually turning a dial up or down.

Draught-proofing

Draughts can lower the temperature in your home if the wind is allowed to whistle through the keyhole and underneath the door.

A simple DIY project which could save you money would be to wander around your home and feel where the drafts are coming from. Using various inexpensive draught-proofing you can stop cold air coming in and warm air from escaping.

None of us wants to pay more for our energy bills than necessary, so take action to cut your costs and insulate your home so that you save some money and stay warmer during the winter months.

Andrew Gray takes an interest in saving money around the home. He has 5 kids and 3 dogs so is always on the lookout for saving cash. His articles appear on personal finance and property blogs.