We managed to REDUCE our Energy Consumption

Mothership

Our energy bills were crippling us around £400- £500 per month.

We had various suppliers over the years and finally settled with E.ON
We are on FixOnline 6
For the first year with them our bills were around the £300- £395 mark.
For the last 12 months our DD payments are £134 per month. We are now in credit of £136.

This is what we did in an attempt to reduce our bills.
I put heavy thermal curtain liners in the coldest rooms, and over the backdoor, and made draught excluders from the same material for the sills and windows (we have sash windows). (I gave inst for these in one of my first posts). We removed these in the warmer months.
I made draught excluders for back and front doors. (Sausages)
I changed EVERY bulb in the house for low energy ones.
I stopped my husband washing dishes with running hot water (we now use a bowl and the dishwasher).
I only use the tumble dryer in emergencies. In warmer weather most things are line dried. We put an Ikea fold away dryer above a radiator. And bought a dehumidifier.
I started using my slow cooker and the microwave ( for veg). And batch cook roasts/ mince etc for freezing.

The above changes we made have made such a difference to our comfort and our finances.

The money we used to pay for energy is now going into an ISA every month.

If anyone has any energy saving tips, I'd be glad to hear them.

christabell

I too put thermal/blackout liners on all of my curtains.....really helps to keep the flat warm,:j as did a door curtain at my front door.:j I don't tend to take the liners off in warmer weather, blocking out the sunlight keeps the rooms cooler.:beer:
I am considering putting blackout blinds behind my kitchen and bathroom blinds, and wondering if that's going a bit far???;)

ollski

Look into swapping your electric tumble drier for a gas one if it still gets reasonable use.

pstuart

We replaced all our roller blinds with 'blackouts', seems to have made quite a difference and we can stay in the conservatory until late autumn (put the big TV in there in the spring).

Mothership

pstuart wrote: »

We replaced all our roller blinds with 'blackouts', seems to have made quite a difference and we can stay in the conservatory until late autumn (put the big TV in there in the spring).

I think that would make a difference, the window draught excluders was the first thing we did. We couldn't believe the difference they made. It's a grade A Listed building so we are not allowed double glazing. There's 15 windows in the house, a lot of blinds lol.
Thats now on my 'To do list', thank you!:beer:

patman99

If you use GU10 halogen bulbs, buy CREE compatables instead. These cost £20 each, but for every 4 you replace, you will save £1.10 per bulb per month (I have a spreadsheet created in Openoffice Calc just for cost savings calculations). This is based on electricity at 11p per/KWh, with lights on for average of 8 hours per day.

Therefore the expensive bulbs will pay for themselves in 2 years in energy saving costs alone.
In 2 years I will have had to replace at least 4 GU10 bulbs out of the 8 we have in the house.

If anyone wants a copy of the spreadsheet for their use then please PM me with your email address and I will send it to you.

KimYeovil

Mothership wrote: »

Our energy bills were crippling us around £400- £500 per month.

We had various suppliers over the years and finally settled with E.ON
We are on FixOnline 6
For the first year with them our bills were around the £300- £395 mark.
For the last 12 months our DD payments are £134 per month. We are now in credit of £136.

This is what we did in an attempt to reduce our bills.
I put heavy thermal curtain liners in the coldest rooms, and over the backdoor, and made draught excluders from the same material for the sills and windows (we have sash windows). (I gave inst for these in one of my first posts). We removed these in the warmer months.
I made draught excluders for back and front doors. (Sausages)
I changed EVERY bulb in the house for low energy ones.
I stopped my husband washing dishes with running hot water (we now use a bowl and the dishwasher).
I only use the tumble dryer in emergencies. In warmer weather most things are line dried. We put an Ikea fold away dryer above a radiator. And bought a dehumidifier.
I started using my slow cooker and the microwave ( for veg). And batch cook roasts/ mince etc for freezing.

The above changes we made have made such a difference to our comfort and our finances.

No !!!!, Sherlock.

daveyjp

£500 a month! I didn't realise Royal households posted on MSE.:rotfl:

Mothership

ROTFLMAO! Hardly Royal LOL. Thats what we were paying or wasting as the case may be.

lilac_lady

How many rooms are in your house? How many teenagers? (X-boxes, hair straighters, 30 minute showers etc, etc(

markharding557

£500mper month is astronomical:eek: