Which appliances use the most energy?
The government's Energy Price Guarantee means that a typical household should pay around £2,500 a year on energy for the next two years, but that still means it'll be an uncomfortable winter ahead for some. So what can we do about it? We break down which appliances use the most energy so you can plan ahead.
Earlier this month, the government introduced The Energy Price Guarantee, which capped the average unit price for dual-fuel customers paying by direct debit to 34.0p/kWh for electricity and 10.3p/kWh for gas. This means that a typical household should pay around £2,500 a year on energy for the next two years.
Although it could have been a lot worse - analysts at Cornwall Insight predicted that the Ofgem cap could rise to approximately £5,400 in January - sadly, we’re still set for a winter of discontent, disgust, disgruntlement, and a whole host of other disagreeable words beginning with ‘dis’.
The big question, therefore, is how on earth homeowners, landlords and tenants can reduce their bills? There’s diddly squat anyone can do about the price of energy - unless they just happen to be Vladimir Putin in an unusually charitable mood - but at least we can control the amount of energy we use. And this involves thinking carefully about our energy consumption and then changing our behaviour accordingly…
Applied knowledge
So, want to know which appliances fuel spiralling energy bills the most? The good folks at Carbon Footprint have put together a useful guide that reveals all. The main culprits include - start the drumroll, please - electric ovens, dishwashers, microwaves and electric hobs. The very worst perpetrators, however, are fridge-freezers, tumble dryers, and plasma TVs.
Based on today’s prices (before the Energy Price Guarantee comes into effect), electric ovens cost the average home £21 per year (that’s 16p per use) to run, dishwashers cost £19 per year (14p per use), microwaves £9 per year (9p per use), and electric hobs as much as £30 per year (that’s 7p per go). Meanwhile, the average tumble dryer costs a power-sapping £37 per year (25p per spin). So basically it makes your meter spin as much as your wet clothes.
Appliances that stay on longer wallop the wallet even harder: fridge-freezers currently cost between 6-11p per day (depending on their energy rating), whilst televisions cost 12-19p for 6.5 hours’ viewing. So maybe it’s time to bin those box-set binges?
The good news, however, is that you should be able to lower your bills now that you’re armed with these nuggets of information. For example, you can hang your washing out to dry rather than defaulting to the tumble dryer. Plus you can use your microwave (instead of your electric oven) when possible. And don’t be afraid to wash up manually after a winter feast. Your dishwasher devours kilowatts as quickly as kids scoff chicken nuggets.
General tips
In addition to the above, there are a number of other energy-saving tips you can pass on to customers, friends, and family: bleed your radiators, turn down the temperature on your boiler, insulate your hot water cylinder, replace traditional light bulbs with LEDs, and install a smart meter so you can monitor your usage.
You can also pinch the pennies by doing the following. Thanks go to MoneySavingExpert for doing the maths:
Spend less time in the shower - cutting this by just a minute could save £207 a year in energy plus a further £105 on water (for a four-person household)
Turn the thermostat down - a typical household could cut bills by about £142 (that’s 4%) for every degree
Install radiator thermostats in each room - controlling the temperature in different parts of the house will curtail wastage and could save you £213 per year (6%).
Block drafts - putting draft excluders under doors and plugging up chimneys could cut bills by another 2%.
Another interesting titbit, by the way, is that leaving a TV in standby isn’t as bad as you might think. It’s not as good as turning it off, obviously, but a telly in standby mode only uses about 3% of the energy of a telly that’s satisfying your Game of Thrones cravings.
Every little helps
With energy bills set to soar a lot higher than last winter, we suggest that everyone takes former chancellor Nadhim Zahawi’s blunt advice to cap their energy consumption as much as possible. The tips above should help people to do that. So please pass this advice on to your customers.
What’s more, we shouldn’t forget that we’re in the middle of a climate crisis with heat waves, droughts and floods devastating several parts of the world. Saving energy obviously means cutting emissions and reducing our carbon emissions as well. Did you know that those troublesome electric tumble dryers release 159 kg of CO2 per year? They say that knowledge is power; but knowing how much power everyday appliances guzzle is priceless, too.