1st time homeowners guide to energy efficiency

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Buying your first home can be an exciting and occasionally daunting experience. You will undoubtedly be looking forward to having a place of your own and being able to add your unique, personal touches. There are, however, some practical considerations that will demand your attention. As well as finding money for your mortgage each month, you will also need to think about paying other bills. That means ensuring that you are able to pay your Council Tax, TV Licence and your energy bills.

Energy costs have certainly been in the headlines recently, with a number of the main energy suppliers being accused of hiking their costs, at a time when many families are looking to make savings. Those spiralling costs are clearly bad news for homeowners and you will undoubtedly be looking to avoid receiving substantial bills relating to your gas and electricity usage.
You are probably already aware that you can shop around, enabling you to go about comparing energy tariffs. This should allow you to select an energy supplier who will offer low costs, in line with the specific needs of your household. But you can also seek to reduce bills by restricting the amount of energy that you use each day. There are some appliances around the home that use a lot of energy, meaning that they are expensive to run. Know how to better use them by following these tips, and you may well be able to reduce the bills in your new home.

Opt for a shower, rather than a bath
The average bath requires 80 litres of water, while a short shower can use as little as 32 litres, according to recent studies. This is important, since you’ll be paying to heat the water that you use. Indeed, if you have a water meter in your home, then you will also be paying that bit more for the water itself.
The key here is to concentrate on having a relatively short shower. Studiesshow that longer showers can actually be less energy efficient than taking a bath.

Try not to over-fill the kettle
If you’re going to boil the kettle, then try to avoid putting more water into it than you will actually need. The more water that you use, the longer it will take the kettle to bring that water to boiling point. This means that you can needlessly end up using extra electricity, costing you that bit more.

Turn the thermostat down a little
When the cold nights start to draw in, it can be incredibly tempting to turn the thermostat up on the wall, ensuring that you have a lovely, warm house. That’s a temptation that may be best avoided.
It’s far more cost-effective to turn the thermostat down a notch and to wear an extra layer of clothing. The next time you feel a little cold around the house, reach for a warm jumper, rather than the boiler controls.

Avoid heating rooms that you are not using
You can also reduce the amount of energy that you use by ensuring that you are not heating rooms unnecessarily. A good example of this would be a guest bedroom. If you don’t have guests visiting, then make sure that you turn off the radiator in that room, otherwise you are paying for heat that will be wasted.

Improve insulation within your home

Depending upon the structure of your property, you may find that a lot of heat is being lost. That can be very frustrating, particularly since you will have been paying to heat up the warm air that is being lost. A number of home improvements can help to reduce heat loss. You might consider additional loft insulation, installing double glazed windows, or making use of cavity wall insulation.

Use energy saving light bulbs

Finally, you should ensure that you make use of energy saving light bulbs in every room of your home. That’s an incredibly simple way to reduce your electricity bills.

**This is a guest post**

1 thought on “1st time homeowners guide to energy efficiency”

  1. These are all excellent tips. My fiance and I recently purchased out first home together and were looking to cut down on some costs. I struggle to give up my relaxing baths, but we have switched to using energy efficient light bulbs and that has made a huge difference on our electric bill. We also switched our energy supply company after discovering the low cost of North American power prices. It definitely helps to shop around a bit and do research for the best deals!

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