How do I use less electricity?

Electricity use is dominated by heating things up, cooling things down, and anything running 24 hours a day. Chasing standby power while running a tumble dryer daily is optimising the wrong end of the problem by a wide margin.

What you'll need

• Plug-in energy monitor (optional)
• Smart meter or in-home display (optional)
• LED bulbs

Step by step

1. Identify your biggest users: anything that heats, cools, or runs constantly.Tumble dryer, electric shower, immersion heater, oven, fridge and freezer, electric heaters.
2. Use a plug-in energy monitor on suspect appliances.It turns guesswork into numbers. Old fridges and freezers are often much worse than expected.
3. Reduce tumble dryer use — line dry or use a heated airer where practical.It is typically among the largest single electricity users in a household.
4. Run washing machines and dishwashers full, on eco cycles.Eco cycles use less water and heat it less, which is where most of the energy goes.
5. Switch remaining bulbs to LED.They use a fraction of the power of halogen and incandescent, and last far longer.
6. Check your fridge and freezer temperatures and clean the coils.They run constantly, so inefficiency compounds. 0–5°C for the fridge, around -18°C for the freezer.
7. Only boil the water you need in the kettle.Small per use, but it happens many times a day.
8. Turn off at the wall the things that genuinely draw power on standby.Games consoles, set-top boxes and older TVs are worth it; a phone charger with nothing plugged in is not.

Tips

• An appliance more than about fifteen years old, particularly a fridge or freezer, may cost more in electricity than a replacement would cost to buy over its remaining life. Measure before deciding.
• If you have a time-of-use tariff, shifting the dishwasher and washing machine to off-peak hours can make a substantial difference at no cost.
• An in-home display or smart meter makes consumption visible, and visibility alone tends to reduce it.

Common mistakes

• Focusing on standby power first — It is real but small. Heating, cooling and constantly-running appliances dominate a domestic bill.
• Guessing which appliances are expensive — A plug-in monitor costs very little and frequently produces surprises.
• Running half-empty appliance loads — The energy is mostly in heating the water, which is nearly the same whether the machine is full or half full.

Questions people ask