Cost effective tips to keep cool

It was announced on the 23^rd May by Ofgem that the energy price cap will drop from £1,849 a year to £1,720 this July. After three consecutive increases since last year, this is a small relief for UK households, although prices are still high.

Now that UK weather is starting to heat up, energy bills are likely to drop without the need for heating the home, but keeping your home cool is a new challenge.

Air conditioning and backyard swimming pools aren't the most affordable options for most UK households, but there are some cost-effective ways to beat the heat.

To help you tackle rising temperatures we've put together some tips to help you beat the heat on a budget and make the most of your household energy.

Open windows strategically

Opening the windows on a hot day can unintentionally make a home hotter by allowing warm air indoors. To get cool air in and keep hot air out, you need to be strategic about when you open the windows.

The best time to open the windows is when temperatures are at their lowest to let cool air in and warm air out, and they should be kept and closed during the hottest times of day.

While keeping windows open at night can cool down your home, safety should be a priority. Reports of burglaries usually increase during the summer months, so be extra aware. Make sure windows are closed and locked before you leave the home and keep shut any windows that could be used to enter the home at night.

The coolest time of day is typically just before sunrise, so a good game plan to keep the home cool would be to open the windows in the evening and first thing in the morning.

You can also boost airflow by opening windows on opposite sides of the home at the same time, creating a highway for hot air to exit and cool air to enter.

Switch out your bedding

Cheap bedding is often made using polyester, which is a synthetic fibre that tends to trap heat. To get a cool night’s sleep without having to rely on expensive cooling technology, it's worthwhile to invest in bedding made from natural fibres like cotton and linen.

These are more breathable and can wick sweat, helping to keep you cool. These materials are also pretty durable, so they can go through plenty of washes without wearing out.

In summer, you should also go for lighter coloured bedsheets, which are much better at reflecting heat than darker colours.

Turn off heat-emitting tech

Tumble dryers, lamps, and dishwashers all emit heat when they’re used, and when placed in small or poorly ventilated spaces they can heat up a room quite quickly.

On the hottest days of the year, try to limit how much you use these appliances to prevent them from heating up your home, which can save you money at the same time.

Swap out incandescent or halogen bulbs for LEDs, cut down on dishwasher loads, and hang laundry outside to dry.

Some notorious heat-emitting devices that get used almost every day are computers and laptops. You’d be surprised by just how much heat a computer generates.

Normal running temperature for a PC can be around 60-70°C, which is hotter than an electric blanket. So, people working from home on their computers are practically turning their home office into a sauna by running their computers throughout the day.

If you’re stuck in a home-office during a heatwave, try these tips to prevent PCs and laptops from running too hot:

• Use compressed air to gently clear dust and debris from fans and vents.

• Turn off computers and laptops when not in use rather than letting them 'sleep'. This gives them time to cool down completely and can improve performance over time.

• Elevate PC tower units off the floor and keep fans and vents unobstructed, ideally pointing away from walls and other surfaces.

• Keep laptops on flat, solid surfaces like desks and tables or, even better, get yourself a laptop stand to lift the back of your laptop for better airflow. You can find a basic stand for as little as £10 online.

• Close unnecessary tabs and applications and limit the use of apps that require lots of processing power.

If you find your device gets abnormally hot even after these steps, it could be an indication that something’s wrong, so the solution may be to take it to a professional for servicing.

Take lukewarm showers rather than cold

Cold showers are a common way to cool off in hot weather, but science has slightly different advice if you want to keep cool.

Cold showers can actually prevent you from cooling down by restricting blood flow and won’t have any effect on core temperature, which is what really matters. A very cold shower can also make you feel hotter because your body will try to retain heat and reduce sweat production.

If you're feeling hot and sweaty, it’s recommended instead that you have a cool or lukewarm shower. Taking a longer shower or a bath in these kinds of temperatures can gently bring your core temperature down, helping you feel comfortably cooler for longer.

These means you should have less need to take multiple showers throughout the day.

Use fans correctly

With current energy prices and the new energy price cap, the average cost to keep a 20-60 watt desk fan running for 8 hours a night is only 9p*, making them far cheaper than air conditioning. However, this can still add up if you're using fans that use more energy or using multiple fans around the home.

You may be surprised to know that there is a right way and a wrong way to use a fan. Used the wrong way, fans push hot air around a room, doing nothing to cool them down. But used the right way, you'll only need one or two to keep your home nice and cool.

Here’s how you can use fans the right way to get the most out of them:

• When temperatures are cooler outside – in the evening or early morning – place a fan next to an open window to draw cool air into a room.

• Rather than pointing a fan directly at you, use the oscillate setting to distribute cool air around a room and improve air circulation. This can bring down the temperature of a whole room, making it more effective than just having a blast of cold air in your face.

• Hot air rises, so during the day place fans on a lower surface and point them upwards into a room to push cooler air upwards.

_{*Based on current average energy cost of 27.03 pence per kWh and average desk fan use of 0.04kWh of energy per hour [accurate as of 06.06.2025]}