As a nation, we’re constantly looking for ways to save money, whether it be on our energy bill, food shop, insurance, etc. But what can we do to cut those costs? Try a different supermarket for your food shop or sign-up to u-switch to track energy provider prices? Some heating companies run monthly competitions giving away brand new boilers with installation or offer to pay your gas bill for a year. It’s worth keeping an eye out for high-value competition prizes and entering if it’s free, you have nothing to lose.
We spend a lot of time in our homes, so that would be a good place to start looking at where we could save some money.
Below are 5 top tips on how you can save money on your heating bill:
1. Install an energy efficient boiler
Ok, so this one involves an initial outlay of money but if you have an older boiler, the chances are that it’s not energy efficient. By upgrading your old boiler to an A-rated energy efficient boiler, the Energy Saving Trust estimates that you could save up to £305 per year on your utility bills. It’s also better for the environment and will save on the repair costs of keeping an older boiler going. Many companies offer the flexibility of being able to pay for your boiler on finance, making it a much more affordable monthly payment.
2. Minimize Draught
Many homeowners find it difficult to heat up the whole of the ground floor. You may feel a noticeable draught which comes in at the windows, back door and front door. By simply placing draught pillows or draught excluders at the bottom of each door, you will no doubt notice an immediate improvement for minimal expense. By eliminating the draughty areas in your home, you will retain more heat and place less demand on your heating system. It will allow you to drop your thermostat down a degree or two. Decreasing the temperature of your thermostat by one degree is believed to be able to save you £80 a year!
A lot of heat is also lost through windows. Even with double glazed windows, this can occur. Try closing the curtains/blinds earlier or purchase thicker curtains. It can make a surprisingly big difference.
3. Close Doors to Rooms
Is there one room in the house which you’d like to be a little warmer? Maybe the bathroom, especially on those chilly mornings! Close the door to that room so that the heat your radiator is producing isn’t lost by escaping into the rest of the house. This is an easy way to warm up certain rooms that always seem to be cold.
4. Have Thermostatic Radiator Valves Installed
Thermostatic radiator valves or “TRVs” are valves which are installed on your radiator in place of the old-style valve you might have, but how can they save you money? They enable us to regulate temperature for each individual room/radiator. So, if you have a room in the house that you don’t particularly use often or maybe it’s the hottest room in the house due to where its situated, instead of the radiator heating up to maximum temperature when your heating is turned on, you can very easily turn the TRV down to low so that it just takes the chill out of the air. The TRV will then close when it’s reached the set temperature. This radiator has now only demanded a low temperature which means that your boiler isn’t working as hard and therefore isn’t using as much gas. Imagine how much gas you could save if you could regulate the temperature on every radiator in the house.
There is however a cost to buying and having these TRVs installed, but that initial outlay will certainly be recouped through the course of the year and beyond. On average, to have a TRV installed will cost you between £50 – £80, but that price will drop significantly if you are replacing multiple TRV’s at the same time as the plumber will only need to drain the system down once.
5. Get a Smart Thermostat
Like the TRVs, there is an initial outlay to one of these devices, but the benefits can be great. A smart thermostat works side by side with your central heating system. It can learn your heating habits and adjust itself to the temperature around it! They’re far more advanced than your regular thermostat and together with TRVs, can result in substantial savings on your heating bill.
Tado says that its smart thermostat ‘will pay for itself within a year’ by reducing your heating bills by up to 31%. Netatmo claims that its smart thermostat will reduce the energy you use by 37%.*
Above are just 2 of the thermostat brands out there now and most, if not all can provide you with weekly reports of your heating consumption! And for all the tech-savvy folk out there, you can control your smart thermostat on your smartphone! It connects to your home Wi-Fi which allows you to control your heating when not at home, so you can get the house nice and toasty for when you arrive home from work or when you’re returning home from holiday (spending all the money you’ve saved on your heating bill).
*Source – Which? Website
