MILLIONS of households could slash their energy costs by tweaking the settings on their appliances.
This is because many aren’t aware of the clever settings available at hand to help save energy and cut your bills.
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Making some simple tweaks to the way that you use your dishwasher, boiler, washing machine and dryer could help slash your bills by up to £372 a year.
The advice will come in handy because energy bills are expected to jump by £500 from £2,500 to £3,000 a year for the average household on April 1.
While this is what the average household should expect to pay – many will fork out more because the Energy Price Guarantee only increases the unit rate of gas and electricity.
So if you use more energy than the average household – expect to pay more.
Here’s the exact setting you need to set your appliances to so that you’re not paying over the odds.
Dishwasher – save £146 a year
The average dishwasher uses between 1.2kWh and 1.5kWh per load, according to research by Compare The Market.
And according to Energy Saving Trust, your dishwasher contributes to 8% of your overall electricity bill.
But there are still ways to cut dishwasher costs.
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Your normal dishwasher setting is usually set at a temperature of between 55ºC and 65ºC.
An eco wash or energy saving setting generally uses around 20% to 40% less energy, according to Which?
They generally run at 45ºC to 50ºC, which means it’s cheaper to run and according to Bosch, it’ll slash your bills by £146 a year.
These settings usually use less water too, but run for longer than a standard wash.
Boiler – save £112 a year
Over 10.7million households can save an average of £112 a year by changing the flow temperatures on their combination boilers.
That’s according to charity, Nesta which has launched a money saving boiler campaign, in partnership with Which?, Energy UK, EDF, E.ON and Octopus Energy.
The average household sets their combination boiler water flow temperature between 75°C and 80°C.
But if households were to drop this temperature to 60°C they could slash their gas consumption by 9% – saving households over £100 a year.
Households willing to turn their temperatures down to 55°C could even slash their consumption by 12%.
Washing machine – save £61 a year
Most models of washing machine now come with an eco-mode that can be used to save the environment – and some cash.
This setting will use less water and means you’ll use less energy to heat it when washing your clothes.
Households that use the eco mode instead of a normal cycle can save £37 a year.
And reducing your washing temperature to 30°C could save you £13 a year while cutting further to 20°C could shave £24 off your annual bill.
Tumble dryer – save £53
Tumble dryers are cash-guzzling machines that cost around 67p per cycle.
For big families who do three loads of washing a week, that could mean you’re spending £104.52 a year tumble drying your clothes.
But households that opt for the eco or low heat setting can slash their energy bill by £53 a year according to Uswitch.
But it’s important to highlight that households can save serious cash with a heated airer – we’ve worked out how much they cost to run here.
How else can I cut appliance costs?
Households can cut their energy bills further by ensuring that they’re not running their appliances if they’re not full.
Data from Uswicth estimates that not running your washing machine, tumble dryer and dishwasher if they aren’t full will slash your energy bills by £40 a year.
Thousands could further slash their bills by ensuring that they don’t leave their appliances plugged in and on standby when not in use.
Devices that drain energy while plugged in and on standby include:
- Hi-Fi systems – £143 a year
- Computers – £95 a year
- TVs – £24 a year
- Set-top-box – £23 a year
- Printers – £20 a year
- WiFi router – £19 a year
- Microwave – £16 a year
- Games consoles – £12 a year
Appliances which use energy to cool things – like fridges and freezers – are also expensive to run and there are ways to cut costs.
Keeping your fridge freezer clean can also save £45 a year – dust on the condenser coils can reduce the efficiency by as much as 25% says Which?.
And failing to defrost it for instance could be adding on an extra £150 a year.
The nation’s love of brews could be costing us a lot.
Kettles – along with other kitchen appliances like cookers and blenders – account for 19% of the average home’s energy use.
So make sure you’re not overfilling it to save £55 a year.
