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
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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share my favourites with you next week so we can all get our
finances in order!
I really need to look into saving and cutting down on our extortionate energy bills. Off to do that now, thanks for the push :)
ReplyDeleteExcellent 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!
ReplyDeleteWe need to get a grip with the energy we use, having another baby means cutting down on waste, thanks for sharing
ReplyDeleteThese are some great tips - I am really trying to get on top of our energy usage more. x
ReplyDeleteI much prefer summer to winter so I'm focusing on the positive that moving into British winter-time means an extra hour in bed!
ReplyDeleteThese 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.
ReplyDeleteWe are pretty good with looking after our energy expenditure. We have a digital thermostat and make sure that we use it effectively
ReplyDeleteI think we're quite good at saving energy already - our bills are quite low compared to other peoples that I hear about. x x
ReplyDeleteWe 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
ReplyDeleteWe have a smart meter and get billed for what we use. It has made us much more savvy
ReplyDeleteI switch off lights but I was wary of smart meters
ReplyDelete