Lower your bills in a few easy steps
Energy and water bills can be expensive, but there are a few things you can do to keep your costs as low as possible.
Learn more about some of the ways you can reduce your bills below:
- Heating controls
70% of your bill is from heating your home and water, so using your equipment efficiently can reduce your bills. Click here to learn more about heating controls.
- Prepayment meters
Paying for gas and electric via a prepayment meter is more expensive than a credit meter. You can swap your meter and make savings of up to £600 per year. Click here to learn more about prepayment meters.
- Warm Home Discount
This is worth up to £150 per year. If you're eligible for this, your energy supplier will automatically apply this discount to your bill. Click here to learn more about the Warm Home Discount.
- Water
If you have a small family or live on your own, then a water meter may be right for you. Click here to learn more about saving money on water bills.
- Use less energy
It sounds obvious, but the less energy you use the lower your bills will be. Tom's 'Top Saving Tips' videos are available to watch and are designed to help everyone- not just our tenants. Click here to watch Tom's 'Top Saving Tips' videos.
- Pay by direct debit
This can save you between £70 to £150 per year.
- Shop around for a better deal
Even if you have a prepayment meter, switching energy suppliers can shave hundreds of pounds off your bills.(Although deals are not currently available to switch, when this changes, the service to help you shop around will be available).
See how much it'll cost to run home appliances for a given amount of time
Figure out which of your home applicances are costing you the most to run: use GoCompare's energy cost calculator (external website):
GoCompare have developed an interactive energy cost calculator tool that'll help you find out how much your various home applicances cost to run over a given period of time.
You can use the calculator (shown in the screenshot below) to pick the appliances you want to compare and select how long they’ll be in use for. The calculator makes it easier to understand which of your appliances are contributing most to your bill.
Tap here to use GoCompare's Energy cost calculator (opens in a new tab/window).
Why not try energy saving or LED bulbs?
Using energy saving light bulbs or LED lighting can make a huge difference to your energy bills. They may cost a little more to buy, but they will save you a lot of money in the long run:
- An average home of 10 traditional bulbs would cost £193 in electricity.
- The same home with 10 low energy florescent light bulbs would cost £42 in electricity.
- If you swapped those for newer LED lighting it would cost £28 in electricity.
- Changing your bulbs could save you over £150 per year in lighting alone.
Book an energy advice session with Tom Kirby
If you’re a tenant and need some more tailored support, why not book a one to one energy advice session with our Home Energy Advisor, Tom Kirby? Tom's support won’t cost you a penny, and he'll work his money-saving magic by:
- reviewing your energy tariffs,
- sharing tips to reduce energy costs (while keeping things warm during the colder months),
- providing advice on Winter Fuel Payments,
- supporting you with energy disputes,
- and- where possible- providing more tailored support based on your circumstances.
To book an Energy Advice session with Tom Kirby, click here.
"My arrears were reduced to zero, thanks to Tom!"
Our tenant Jean (name changed) thought Tom could help, so she got in touch.
Jean raised concerns over an unexpected £600+ bill she’d received (following a takeover of her previous energy supplier), so, Tom arranged a home visit to work things out.
After assisting with a three-way call, submitting up-to-date meter readings, and disputing the balance- it wasn’t long before he’d helped reduce Jean’s arrears to zero.
Jean not only reduced her arrears to zero, she was able to benefit from Tom's expert advice on how to save energy around the house.