Start With the Way You Heat, Not Just How Much

When energy prices climb, the instinct is to reach for the thermostat and turn it down a couple of degrees. That helps, but it is only part of the picture. How efficiently your home holds onto heat matters just as much as how much you pump into it, and the good news is that most of the fixes cost nothing at all.

Begin by setting your heating to a comfortable but sensible level — 18 to 21°C suits most households, and lowering it by just one degree can shave a noticeable amount off your annual bill. If you have a combi boiler, turn the flow temperature down to around 55°C; your radiators will still warm the rooms, and the boiler will condense more efficiently in the process.

Then look at timing. Rather than heating an empty house, programme your boiler to come on half an hour before you wake and to switch off half an hour before bed. If you are out at work all day, there is no reason for the radiators to be glowing at two in the afternoon.

Stop Heat Escaping Through the Gaps

Draughts are the quiet thief of household warmth. A cold breeze under the door or around a window frame can make a room feel several degrees chillier than it really is, tempting you to nudge the thermostat up again. Blocking those gaps is one of the cheapest and most satisfying jobs you can do.

• Fit a brush or draught excluder to the bottom of external doors, and foam strips around loose window frames.
• Use a weighted draught excluder sausage at the front door, especially on windy evenings.
• Close curtains at dusk and tuck them behind radiators, so heat is pushed into the room rather than up the window.
• Fit radiator reflector panels behind radiators on external walls — they bounce warmth back inside.
• Keep internal doors shut to hold heat in the rooms you are actually using.

None of these require a tradesperson, and together they can make a genuine difference to how long your heating stays off between cycles.

Make Lighting and Standby Costs Disappear

Lighting is a small slice of the average bill, but it is an easy one to trim. If you still have old halogen or incandescent bulbs anywhere, swap them for LEDs — they use around a tenth of the energy and last for years. A single LED left on for a few hours a day costs pennies a year rather than pounds.

The bigger surprise for many households is standby power. Devices left on at the wall — televisions, games consoles, set-top boxes, chargers, microwaves with glowing clocks — quietly draw electricity around the clock. It adds up to a steady trickle that you never see on a meter reading.

• Put your entertainment setup on a switched extension lead and flick it off at night.
• Unplug chargers once devices are full; they still draw a small current when warm.
• Turn off the router only if nobody needs it overnight — otherwise leave it be.
• Check for appliances with standby lights in spare rooms and stop them idling.

Get More From Your Appliances

Washing machines, tumble dryers and dishwashers are the heavyweights of the kitchen, and small habits around them add up quickly. Wash clothes at 30°C rather than 40°C or higher — modern detergents work perfectly well at lower temperatures, and you save energy on every load. Wait until you have a full drum before pressing start; two half-loads use roughly twice the power of one full one.

Tumble dryers are particularly hungry, so use them sparingly. A drying rack near a radiator, or an outdoor line on a dry day, costs nothing. If you do use the dryer, spin clothes thoroughly first and clean the lint filter after every load to keep it running efficiently.

For the dishwasher, scrape rather than rinse plates and use the eco setting. It runs longer but at a lower temperature, which usually means less energy overall. And when you boil the kettle, fill it only with the water you need — heating a full kettle for one cup is wasted electricity every single time.

Heat Water and Cook With a Little More Thought

Water heating is often the second-largest cost in a home after space heating, and it rewards a bit of attention. If you have a hot water cylinder, check that it is well insulated with a jacket — an unlagged cylinder bleeds heat all day long. Set the cylinder thermostat to around 60°C: hot enough to keep water hygienic, but not so hot that you are paying to overheat it.

In the kitchen, match the pan to the ring and put a lid on. Food cooks faster, and the hob does not have to work so hard. Batch cooking on a Sunday and reheating through the week uses far less energy than firing up the oven every evening, and it saves you time on busy weeknights too.

A pressure cooker or slow cooker can also be a quiet ally, cooking a whole meal for a fraction of the energy an oven would use.

Small Habits, Real Savings

None of these changes require a cold house, a building project, or a big upfront spend. They are the sort of adjustments you make once and then barely notice, except when the bill arrives. A draught excluder here, a 30°C wash there, a boiler turned down a notch — each is modest on its own, but together they can knock a meaningful amount off your monthly outgoings.

Start with the free wins: turn things off at the wall, lower the flow temperature, and shut doors behind you. Then add the cheap fixes as time and budget allow. Warmth and thrift are not opposites — with a little thought, your home can be both cosy and economical.