How To Save On Your Electricity Bills?
The spring months in Ireland tend to be chillier than we all might like, and the temptation to turn the thermostat up a few notches can be irresistible. But with higher temperatures come higher gas and electricity bills, so it can be tricky to find the right balance.
Here are a few ways to stay warm while still saving on those ever-increasing energy bills.
Improving your energy efficiency
- Insulate your loft to reduce heat loss from your home
- Use radiator insulation foil behind your radiators to direct all of their heat into your rooms
- If you’ve got a hot water cylinder in your hot press, make sure it’s got a thick thermal jacket secured around it and its thermostat isn’t set higher than 60 degrees
- Check if your radiators feel warmer at the bottom and cooler at the top when your central heating is on. If they are, bleed them to improve their efficiency. You can learn more about this here.
- Leaving radiators on full blast in rooms you aren’t using can be a waste of energy. Turn them off or on low, and remember to keep the doors closed in unused rooms.
- Radiator boosters are nifty tubes that sit on top of a radiator holding a small thermostat fan. It draws the heat trapped behind the radiator and spreads it evenly around the room, and depending on the size of your home, it could save you money.
- Placing a shelf above the radiator can also help channel the warmth and stop the hot air rising directly above it. This especially likely if the radiator is below a window with curtains, where warm air would be trapped between the window and the curtain.
- Carpets keep your floors warm, but in corridors and landings where you might have stone or wooden floors it could help to cover the floor with a rug or hallway runner. This helps stop the movement of chilly air through wooden floorboards, and can prevent stone floors from conducting heat away from your nice warm tootsies.
- Draught proofing is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to keep warm and save on bills, but it is often overlooked. Draught excluders are cheap, and they can keep the heat in and the cold out – potentially saving you a handy sum each year.
- There are a number of gaps in and around the household that could be letting the cold in. A quick test to get wind of where the cold air is lurking is to run your hand around your window frames in the morning. If you feel a draught, then you may have found a gap. A reel of self-adhesive insulating strip placed around the frame can prevent the draught from getting in.
- When it comes to beating draughts, consider the curtains in your home – the thicker they are, the better. If you don’t want to splash out on new ones, you can always add thickness with a thermal lining – they’re normally quite cheap and easy to attach.
Stay safe from carbon monoxide
You can buy carbon monoxide alarms to alert you to the danger of carbon monoxide poisoning. Learn more about protecting your family from carbon monoxide poisoning here.
For protection against central heating emergencies you can add Home Membership to your AA home insurance policy. It provides 24-hour assistance with many more household emergencies, including internal electrics, burst pipes, and routine repairs too.
Home Insurance due for renewal? Make sure you check out AA Home Insurance for a €60 discount online.
Image: Home Energy Pros
