ENERGY bills are at record highs for most households in the UK.
But your TV could be unknowingly adding to the soaring costs – though there’s a simple way to bring them back down again.
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Energy bills are due to rise a by £693 for many, in April.
It’s all because the energy price cap, in place to stop households being overcharged on their bills, will escalate to £1,971 a year by the springtime.
But that might not be the end of rising bills as costs are only expected to soar further later this year in October, when the next price cap announcement is.
The government hasn’t ruled out the price going up again, so Brits will have to come up with even more genius ways to reduce their charges.
On top of it all though, there’s also soaring food costs, and tax increases, plus other bill rises to come too.
The rises are largely out of government control, especially as global demand is to blame for rising energy costs, as well as restrictions on imports from Russia.
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But it’s still left some Brits having to make the stark choice between heating and eating.
The telly though, could be a good place to start if you want to slash your spends.
How is my TV pushing up my bills?
Switching off a number of appliances around the house can be the simplest way to slash your energy bill.
Many of us leave things plugged into the walls or with the red standby light still glaring away even after we’ve powered it down.
And the TV is no different – you may think you’ve turned it off with the button on the remove but actually switching it off and unplugging it from the wall is the best way to save money.
That’s because it continues to drain electricity from your walls even when you’re not watching your favourite shows and you’ve packed up and one to bed.
But how much energy your TV uses when it is left on standby depends on the size, the model and how energy efficient it is.
How much could I cut costs by?
Your TV, like many other electrical appliances in the home, has a power rating which tells you how much electricity it uses.
That’s given in kWs or Ws and using that number to times by the hours you have something running, will help you find out how much the appliance is using – and how much you can cut back on.
Some televisions can use as much as 10Wh when on standby.
But with the typical kWh costing 28p once energy bills rise, making the simple mistake of leaving the telly on standby, especially overnight, could add up to £24.53 over a year according to Utilita.
If your appliance has a higher or lower power rating though, then that will also affect how much it costs.
It can also depend on where you live and your individual usage.
But make sure you switch off the appliances and you could save almost £25 a year.
You can also buy appliances that have low standby power usage in the first place, and this will help keep costs down compared to regular products, especially if you do forget to switch them off entirely.
Is there any other help I can get to slash costs?
There’s plenty of simple changes you can make to reduce energy bills in your home.
Just like with the standby trick, you can make small improvements room by room and see the pennies fall off your bills.
But if you are struggling financially you can get government support too.
Households can get up to £800 to help with energy bills this winter with various grants and schemes.
The extra help just takes the strain off families having to fork out for hiked costs and means they can better plan where to spend their money.
You can get discounts worth up to £150 on your bill, or take advantage of the new £200 energy rebate, plus many more.
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