5 Simple Ways to Reduce your Energy Bills in your home
We are all becoming a little more energy-conscious these days as we use more and more electricity in our homes for convenience but when the energy bill comes around it can sometimes be a bit of a shock.
To help you we’ve listed 5 simple ways to reduce your energy bill to keep your household costs down while doing some good for the environment.
Install energy efficient lighting
Check settings on your appliances
Close doors and curtains
Use cold water for washing clothes
Turn power outlets off at the wall
Read on to learn how each of these 5 simple ways to reduce energy usage for your home will save your household money and download our FREE interactive Home Energy DIY Checklist.
Or if you’d like to have a professional home energy assessment, Kensington Electrics will come to your home in Perth to review your electrical appliances and make adjustments to make sure that your home is running efficiently.
1. Install energy efficient lighting
Installing LED Lighting solutions is more energy efficient, brighter and lasts longer than conventional lighting
One of the easiest and most effective ways to reduce power usage in your home is to simply switch from halogen and fluorescent globes to LED lighting. There is many reasons to choose LED lighting for your home, they are more energy efficient, brighter and last much longer than conventional lighting.
With advancements in LED technology, you can enjoy the benefits of having ‘on-demand’ choices from a range of light spectrum settings such as cool, warm and daylight and newer LED solutions can even be controlled by your phone. This provides different mood settings for your home when entertaining or when working and require the brightest light available. This is a further way to conserve energy by utilising the lower-light spectrum settings when full daylight is not required.
Another great way to significantly reduce power usage in the home is by installing motion-sensors to control lighting in common areas where lights are often left on all day, even when people aren’t in the room.
2. Check settings on your appliances
Utilise non-peak periods
Most power providers offer discounted power usage costs at non-peak hours of the day. Where possible, set your appliances that have high power usage to run at these times such as your dishwasher, washing machine and any other automated appliances.
If you have solar panels, it is also far more efficient to use household appliances during sunlight hours. This isn’t always practical but if you are mindful of this and try to use delay-timers to make sure that the appliances are working during the day, you will only use the power being harnessed direct from the sun and won’t require any power from your energy provider.
Adjust thermostats seasonally
Hot water system thermostats can be adjusted to a lower temperature which will save you heating water above the temperature required. If your hot water is too hot to touch when running from the tap without cold water mixed in, then you are definitely running your thermostat hotter than required. Experiment by reducing the settings 2 degrees celsius lower until you find the perfect temperature for your household.
Seasonally adjust thermostats on your appliances and use them at non-peak or daylight hours
Fridge and Freezer thermostats should also be adjusted as the seasons change to reduce your appliances overworking and to reduce food spoiling when kept at an incorrect temperature. By adjusting thermostats on your appliances you will significantly reduce energy bills in your home.
Use Eco-settings
Most appliances have eco-settings as a standard function, these settings can sometimes mean that the cycle takes a little longer but overall it will use much less power and water. Be sure to check your fridge, freezer, dishwasher, washing machine and other appliances for eco-settings and make this the default to significantly see a big reduction in your power usage.
Reduce brightness on display appliances
When it comes to TV and display appliances you would likely be using the standard brightness settings which is usually factory-set to the highest possible setting. By simply adjusting each of these to the level required to counter the natural light in the room you will make sure that the lowest power is drawn.
Appliances door seals
Household fridges, freezers, dishwashers and ovens all require door seals to be maintained and replaced regularly to retain thermal integrity. When these seals begin to deteriorate it is not always obvious and it’s best to have a professional service your appliances annually to ensure they are operating at their optimal performance.
Turn power outlets off at the wall to reduce energy bills
3. Turn power outlets off at the wall
You’ve likely heard this one before but power outlets consume energy when switched on, both if an appliance is connected to the outlet but not in use and also if it’s switched on but does not have an appliance plugged in.
You’ll see results in reducing your home energy bills when you get in the habit of turning switches off at the wall and it can also be a fun household game to spot an unused power outlet and turning it off at the wall.
4. Close doors and curtains
The most effective way to reduce energy bills in your home seems simple but many of us have grown up with heating and cooling and it’s not always obvious that controlling some of the environmental thermal affects on the home can reduce the power required by artificial temperature control methods.
Exposed glass windows will not retain heat and will not keep heat out of the home. During winter months it is very effective to let sunlight into the home at certain times of the day to catch some warmth and as the sun shifts you can expect that heat will escape from the home so you should shut your curtains and doors at this time to retain the harnessed heat. The opposite is true for summer, in these months you should keep your blinds and windows closed to avoid direct sunlight and allowing unnecessary heat into the home. You can even open the windows at night to enjoy some fresh summer breezes through the home.
Some households will find that they aren’t as reliant on heating and cooling systems year-round once they adapt to harnessing the sun and environmental variances in their home. So, give it a try and see if this simple way to reduce your energy bill is effective for your home.
5. Use cold or lower water temperatures
For most households, clothing can be washed in room-temperature or luke-warm water and if you save the more dirty clothes to do weekly on a higher temperature wash. Your dishwasher also has temperature settings which can be adjusted depending on the requirements of the dishes that require washing.
As you now know, reducing your home energy bills is very simple and easy. With just a few minor adjustments you can make significant savings for your household.
If you want to schedule a home energy assessment, we will make these adjustments for you immediately and provide you some additional improvements tailored to your home and family needs for a long lasting energy efficient home.