Friday 23 October 2015

Finance Fridays – Big Energy Saving Week

Welcome to this week's Finance Fridays. Last week we were looking at downsizing your house and this week we're looking at what's going on financially inside your house. Starting on Monday 26th October is Big Energy Saving Week and our friends over at Smart Energy GB have provided some tips and information on saving energy and what smart meters are. Here's what they have to say:

Big Energy Saving Week – A chance to save energy?

Don’t forget that if you are reading this from Great Britain, then your clocks go back this weekend and not only do we all get an extra hour of precious sleep on Sunday morning (hooray), but for many this means that the lights and heating get turned on as the mornings are darker, the evenings draw in earlier, and our energy bills start to rise (boo).

But smart meters are a great way to manage those winter energy costs by monitoring exactly what you are spending and keeping track of those energy guzzling appliances. Between now and 2020, every home in Great Britain will be offered the chance to upgrade to a smart meter, at no additional cost.

Big Energy Saving Week

Whether you have a smart meter yet or not, there are lots of ways you can save energy.

Monday sees the start of Big Energy Saving Week, and as a helpful little guide, I have put together five simple tips for saving energy around the home to help you keep your energy bills under control.

Unplug devices as soon as they have been charged rather than leaving them to unnecessarily eat up energy

Upgrade your light bulbs to halogen ones as they really do make a difference to your bills

Don’t leave your shower running while you brush your teeth, it uses tons of hot water!

Don’t use the tumble dryer or dishwasher if only half full

Plug lamps, computers and televisions into one central extension lead in each room. You can then turn everything off from a single plug at the mains, which is so much easier to keep track of

Every smart meter comes with a smart meter display that allows you, for the first time, to see in near real time the amount of energy they are using in the home, and in a language we all understand, pounds and pence.

They also mean no more estimated bills. Energy suppliers will be able to access your meter readings remotely and issue accurate bills. There will be no need for a meter reader to call.

The information provided by the smart meter display will allow people like you and I to see the positive impact that making small energy efficiency steps, like the ones above has on our bills.

Find out more

You can find out more about smart meters from Smart Energy GB, the not for profit campaign to promote the roll of smart meters here. You can read about the experiences of people who have already upgraded their meters and started making energy savings here.

If you want to find other energy efficiency information Citizens Advice have a great resource centre for Big Energy Saving Week with lots of ways you can save money at home here.

Have you got a smart meter in your home? What energy saving tips have you got to share?

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11 comments:

  1. I really need to look into saving and cutting down on our extortionate energy bills. Off to do that now, thanks for the push :)

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  2. Excellent tips. I always try to unplug my devices but it is really hard as they are scattered around the room. I never thought on collecting all of them to a few central extensions. Brilliant. Thank you for that!

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  3. We need to get a grip with the energy we use, having another baby means cutting down on waste, thanks for sharing

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  4. These are some great tips - I am really trying to get on top of our energy usage more. x

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  5. I much prefer summer to winter so I'm focusing on the positive that moving into British winter-time means an extra hour in bed!

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  6. These are all great tips. I don't think we could do the single extension lead per room thing though - there would be too many leads stretching everywhere! We don't have a smart meter.

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  7. We are pretty good with looking after our energy expenditure. We have a digital thermostat and make sure that we use it effectively

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  8. I think we're quite good at saving energy already - our bills are quite low compared to other peoples that I hear about. x x

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  9. We had a smart meter at our old house and it was such a great visual reminder. I am much worse at this house as we do nto pay the bills! No excuse, I know. Mich x

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  10. We have a smart meter and get billed for what we use. It has made us much more savvy

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  11. I switch off lights but I was wary of smart meters

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I appreciate your comments. If you have any tips, tricks or tweaks please pass them on!