Get your household on board with energy savings this winter

Fed up with the constant bickering about wasting energy at home?

A recent survey by MoneySuperMarket uncovered that nearly 25% of Brits have been annoyed with other members of their household for wasting energy*.

With the average household energy bill set to rise to £1,738 in January, it’s understandable that energy wasting can spark tensions at home - especially when you're the bill payer.

The MoneySuperMarket energy survey also found that leaving lights on in empty rooms is the number one cause of household energy conflict (42%), and the next biggest gripe is leaving the television on when no one is watching it, with over a quarter of Brits (29%) reporting that members of their household do this.

As a single parent and personal finance expert, I am always looking for ways to save money on our household bills - and decided it was time to get my 11-year-old daughter involved.

Put it into perspective

I showed my daughter our smart meter and explained how using energy unnecessarily can affect the environment and our household finances. Sometimes, understanding the 'why' behind the actions can help motivate change.

For instance, according to research from the Energy Savings Trust, you can save around £45 annually just by remembering to turn your appliances off standby mode, £24 a year by washing your clothes on a 30-degree cycle instead of higher temperatures and reducing your showers to just four minutes could save a typical household £60.

Get creative

I challenged Audrey to come up with clever ways to cut your energy costs. As the daughter of a financial journalist, moneysaving hacks are a common conversation in our house.

So, her task was to come up with ideas for saving money - the more unique, the better - and the most creative idea wins a (no cost) prize such as extra screen time.

In theory this was a great idea, in practice my daughter simply googled articles I had written over the years and used these tips.

But her favourite energy-saving hacks she found aren't common knowledge - and the savings aren't to be scoffed at. For instance, did you know that you should be cleaning the condenser coils on the back of your fridge-freezer?

As one of the few appliances you keep on all the time, a fridge-freezer costs about £40 a year to run, says online calculator Carbon Footprint.

Part of the system that cools room-temperature air right down to preserve your food, the coils can get dirty, especially since we rarely have cause to move the fridge-freezer, so it’s easy to miss how much dust is accumulating.

As the coils get muckier, they become less efficient and so more energy is needed to cool the air down.

Once a year, unplug your fridge-freezer temporarily while you give the coils a good clean with a duster or the suction nozzle of your vacuum cleaner.

Or to reduce the length of a tumble dryer cycle, place a dry towel in with dryer loads. According to the Good Housekeeping Institute, this simple trick can cut drying time by half an hour - and significantly lower your bills.

The dry towel will absorb excess moisture from the wet clothes, helping them dry faster and reducing the energy consumption of the dryer. This works because the towel acts as an additional absorber of water, decreasing the overall humidity inside the dryer.

As a result, the clothes spend less time tumbling in the dryer, which not only cuts down on energy usage but also prolongs the lifespan of your garments by exposing them to less heat and mechanical action.

For even better results, use a clean, dry towel with each load.

Make it relevant

Use everyday situations to explain energy cost concepts. For instance, use examples of how much can be saved by changing our behaviour. For instance, leaving a games console on standby costs £33.02 over a year according to research by GreenMatch.co.uk.

When I explain this to my 11-year-old daughter, I compare this price to something she values - the latest trending beauty product works well - and ask her what she would rather have for that money? Chances are, she won't want to spend that cash on energy.

Make it a challenge

Turn energy-saving into a game. Set family goals for reducing electricity usage and track progress together. Create a points system where your family earns points for energy-saving actions, like turning off lights or unplugging devices, that they can exchange for rewards.

In my house, I got my daughter to take shorter showers by playing her favourite song and challenging her to finish their shower before the song ends - and low and behold, it worked.

_{*Survey research was carried out by MoneySuperMarket on 10th December 2024 with 2,000 adults across the UK in a nationally representative survey.}