How to reduce household bills without incurring extra costs?

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GreenQueen

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The main bills I need to reduce are Electricity & Gas.

Electricity:
All lightbulbs are already energy saving. All appliances are A-rated, apart from a condensor drier which isn't used at the moment and is switched off. During the winter it's used maybe twice a week with the rest of the clothes dried on the washing line when the weather is dry and on the radiators when the weather is wet.
The electricity is used for appliances (cooker, hob, fridge, dishwasher, tv, laptop, skybox), lighting and the immersion water heater but this also isn't turned on.

Gas:
Gas is used for heating & water heating only. Radiators are switched off in rooms that aren't in regular use. The house is double glazed & well insulated along with properly vented. Right now the heating is turned off and the gas is switched on for 30 mins twice a day to heat water only.

With the winter coming I need practical ideas on how to keep my utility bills to a minimum but don't have any money to invest in the house to make changes.
 
I presume one thing would be to be on a dual day/night electricity tariff, and then try to do all washing/dishwashing after midnight?
 
How about buying a wireless electricity monitor, it wont cut costs but it gives you visabiltiy of how much you appliances etc cost to run. I bought one of these (well the older verson) and find it great. I realised that a lamp we use is actaully quite expensive to run so now dont use it as much.
 
I found that I made savings by switching off the "standby" items - TV, VCR/DVD recorder, stereo, PC printer etc. As I've mentioned here before, it's frustrating that some of these items don't have off switches - so the only way to switch them off is to unplug them which might be awkward depending on where the sockets are.

I bought a socket adaptor (can't think of a better term for it at the moment!) which switches the power on and off to whatever appliance is plugged into it. Works by remote control so no fiddling about behind the TV or whatever! Picked it up in Aldi or Lidl as a 4-pack each individually controllable.


Edit: The gadget is called a Remote Control Socket, [broken link removed] a link to the Maplins website as an example of what I'm talking about.
 
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Thanks gipiman that looks very interesting and could work for the larger items that I can't reach the sockets on.

Nightsaver probably won't work for us as I'm at home fulltime with a small child although I'll look into it thanks for that suggestion canice.

The ESB usage calculator alerted us to how expensive incandescent and halogen lighting can be - hence we're using only energy saving bulbs.

Does anybody know what the optimum indoors temperature is? Last winter I had the house at a constant 20 degrees approx but I wonder could we keep it cooler now the baby is getting older.
 
I would second the "make the socket switch your friend" approach - we turn off everything at the socket switch if it has a light or a clock on it even when it's "off" (so it's okay to leave the kettle plugged in, but not the phone charger).

Only downside is you can't set the video to record in advance (because the clock is always wrong), but other than that there is no negative, and as it's the same thing for all appliances it's only one thing to remember, which is another plus.

I did have those remote-control socket things, but they do still draw a current, kind of defeating the purpose. In the end I only used it for the Christmas Tree lights (because the socket was really awkward to reach) and even then I did several times forget where I'd left the control...
 
Putting clothes on radiators to dry is making your heating system very inefficient, which will increase fuel bills
1. you will not get the proper heat output from the radiators especially if they are high output convector type,
2. you will cause dampness in the room/area,
3. you will discolour your clothing, especially the whites.
Dry your clothes on a "horse" in a sunny area of the house and you can give them a final blast in the drier. I do it and i'm a man and it even works!!
 
Wow good to know thanks Villa. I'll have to rethink how we dry clothes in the winter so.

Would there be any use in attaching an extra layer of lining into our curtains do you reckon? I can use material that I have already so there would be little cost in that!
 
Extra lining would definately help keep heat in. Draft excluders along any drafty doors (you could run them up while your doing the extra lining !!. Reach for a jumper & socks before turning up the thermostat.
 
GreenQueen said:
Wow good to know thanks Villa. I'll have to rethink how we dry clothes in the winter so.

Would there be any use in attaching an extra layer of lining into our curtains do you reckon? I can use material that I have already so there would be little cost in that!
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got curtains made some months back and they had a fleece lining attached to them, wont know how good this works till winter sets in...

another easy way to cut down on energy needs is to keep all doors closed
attach draught preventers to doors with gaps at the bottom
attach insulated seal to door frames
 
I get the feeling I'm missing something terribly obvious here (i.e. I'm wondering why no-one else has mentioned it yet), but have you considered switching electricity and/or gas providers?
 
I knocked off my gas for the last 3 months and reverted to using the immersion for the hot water and put on a heavy jumper or a throw over blanket if it got cold. It is great not to have that bill :) (although it is a pain to have to get out of the bed to put the immersion on and wait 45 min - it is worth it - I just use the 45 min now to go for a cycle) it cost me an extra 10 euro to use the emmersion for 2 months :)

I am also thinking of just using the electric heater in the sitting room to heat that room and leave all other rooms cold as they are not used that much. I know electric is 10 times more expensive- but I will monitor it and see how much extra it costs me.

I heat the water only once in the morning (to have a shower and wash the dishes)- any dishes from the night get washed and dried the next morning before I go to work.

I find drying the clothes in the spare room great and just close the door and keep the window open to prevent dampness and smell from surrounding the place.

Everything gets turned off by the switch and nothing is left on standby.
 
alexandra12 said:
I heat the water only once in the morning - any dishes from the night get washed and dried the next morning before I go to work.
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I've always boiled a kettle for hot water to do the dishes, that's the way my mother always did (and still does) it. If you are heating water just to wash dishes, that could be an easy saving.
 
Check that the rubber seals on your windows and external doors are still in good working order and are not snagged/torn/perished or worn at any points if they are replace with new ones.

Any doors that have "key holes" and the key is only used from one side ( I have a couple of sets of french doors and a single door from a sunroom that the key is only ever used from inside), on the side that the key is never used from remove the handle and cover the keyhole on the inside of the handle with clear plastic and replace the handle. In an emergency the key will still go through the plastic to open the door.

Shocking the breeze that comes in through a keyhole. Another option if it is the door that you use all the time when you are at home keep the key in the door (provided every one is in for the night or they won't be able to open the door with a key from the outside).

If its a deadlock fit a covered escutchion cover and make sure that the cover is put back in place after each use.
 
alexandra12 said:
although it is a pain to have to get out of the bed to put the immersion on and wait 45 min
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When we built our new house I was astounded how quick it took our new immersion to heat the tank. 10 minutes and it was scalding, 20 for bath tops. It's a big tank too. Where I lived previously it took much longer. I think it must be down to the heavy water and limescale on the elements/ pipes or perhaps modern immersions are more efficient. Should immersion tanks we replaced every few years?
 
Thats very interesting TeaTime. My place is only 4 years old - so it should have up to date technology. I originally asked the developer to call out the electrician to take a look at it and he said it was normall - which I did not agree. We have alot of limescale where we are - so maybe that is a major contributor to the delayed time to heat the water.

Is there any self descaling product out there that I can put into a tank that will sort this out - or is another electrician call out the better option ?
 
I got a timer fitted on my immersion, meant its only on 1hr in the summer & gas heats hot water in winter

Des Bishop was on the radio speaking about a challenge he is doing with the ESB and he said to put your immersion switch outiside the hot press where you can see it, not buried in the darkness & forgotton it's on
 
There are some usefull hints on reducing your usage on [broken link removed]. Interesting to note for example that it costs three times as much to run a shower from the Immersion as it does from an electric shower unit.

Regards,

Fnergg
 
NovaFlare77 said:
I get the feeling I'm missing something terribly obvious here (i.e. I'm wondering why no-one else has mentioned it yet), but have you considered switching electricity and/or gas providers?
Click to expand...

This is the obvious one, GreenQueen, are you with ESB Customer Supply?, without getting out of your chair and with a few clicks of your mouse you can save about 10% on electricty instantly.

Given your login name you shopuld probably consider airtricity, ;-), but you can also switch to Bord Gais.

And if your Gas supply is from Bord Gais, it appears there is another 5-7% to be saved on gas by switching to Flogas ( investigaing this myself currently).

For both switches nothing about the actual supply of electricty and gas to you changes except who you pay ( and how much).

ESB Networks and Bord Gais Networks continue to operate, maintain and support the supply to your house, thats where the standing charge part of your bill goes ( this amount does not change when you switch).

Its a no-brainer really.
 
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