Beat the Heat: Tips for Saving Money on your Energy Bill

Jul 17, 2018

While the Welshies have been getting the worst of things, it's been tough across the entire country as mother nature turned up the heat these past few weeks. If you don’t leave the air conditioning on your cozy cottage is liable to become a broiler. But then, there’s the cost of leaving the unit on all day; it’s sure to drive up your energy bill. “What to do, what to do?” you may be asking yourself. Well, here’s a few tips to help keep your pad cool while saving a few pounds on your energy bill.

Know Your Options

As you’re mostly likely aware, the largest energy companies in the UK are known as the Big 6, and include EDF Energy, British Gas, Scottish Power, E.ON, NPower and SSE. The first step in trying to diminish your energy expenses ought to be comparing your current energy utility provider with their competitors to see if one of them can get you a lower rate. Availability of each energy provider depends on where you live, but in shopping around can only benefit you because each company is trying as hard as they can to undercut the competition. What’s more, you needn’t necessarily scope out the prices of Big 6 companies, there are plenty of smaller energy providers all over the UK that you can also compare prices with.

Get Creative

Once you’ve done with these basic steps you’ll need to get just a bit more creative with how you save money by shrinking your energy output. One low cost way of doing this is to buy some caulk and make sure that all your windows are completely sealed. It seems like a silly thing, but window panes or any other nook or cranny in your place that might be letting air in or out can make a small but significant impact on your energy output. By sealing up any such leaks you won’t be letting the cool air out or the hot air in, all for the price of caulk, which isn’t much.

Invest Now, Save Later

There are some more expensive options to diminishing your energy bill as well, and while they may have somewhat of a hefty initial cost, they’ll pay themselves off down the line. The first of these investments is a smart thermostat. There are plenty of brands out there so do a little homework to see which works for you but having the ability to control the temperature of your home through your smartphone is a huge boon. With such a device you wouldn’t have to run your air conditioning all day just for it to be cool when you get home. Instead, you’d only need to turn it on just before you get back, or perhaps as you’re leaving work.

Go Solar!

The second of these more expensive options is more for homeowners than renters, but it’s a good one: solar energy. Investing in solar energy will have a significant up-front cost, that much is true. However, over time, a solar panel on your home or in your yard will more than pay itself off. You can cut out the energy providers all together by storing excess energy in a battery that will power your home. In fact, certain companies will even buy back excess energy harnessed by your solar, so after a time you can even turn a profit on solar energy. I know what you’re thinking, most of the UK exists in a perpetual cloud for most of the year! But, luckily, the sun doesn’t have to be blazing in its full glory every day for a solar panel to work.

Be sure to explore all the different options out there and pick the solution that fits best with your lifestyle. Take a tip from Codes.co.uk and save some cash while staying cool.