Home energy efficiency: ways to save money

Affordable Warmth booklet

To help householders worried about paying their gas and electricity bills this winter, Salisbury District Council and the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust have put together a helpful booklet.

As well as advice on how to make your home warmer and more energy efficient, there is information on:

  • ‘social tariffs’ from fuel suppliers to help save money on your bills
  • how to monitor and reduce energy use
  • tips on how to save money by switching fuel supplier
  • ways to maximise your income
  • what help there is with paying off fuel debt.

To get your copy of the Affordable Warmth booklet, please ring the Wiltshire Energy Advice Service on 01380 736074

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Adobe PDFAffordable Warmth booklet 2.6mb

There are a number of ways to save money by making your home more energy efficient. These range from simple no-cost or low-cost adjustments to your home, to more involved works which may well attract grant aid.

Heating our homes accounts for around 60% of our home energy costs, and for many of us this can be significantly reduced by improving their energy efficiency. For more information, contact the Wiltshire Energy Advice Service on 01380 721487.

You can calculate the potential savings in your home by visiting the Energy Savings Trust website at www.est.org.uk

As well as heating, other areas of our home use energy, such as lighting and appliances.

Find more details on the cost-savings you could make:

Boy closing a fridge door

Lighting and appliances

Replacing ordinary lightbulbs with energy-efficient bulbs could save you up to £7 a year per bulb. The bulbs will also last up to 12 times longer.

Avoid overfilling the kettle: boil only the water you need. Heating water requires a lot of energy and costs money.

Many appliances use as much energy when on stand-by as they do when they are on – so turn them off where you can.

Defrost your fridge regularly.

All white goods (fridges, freezers, washing mashines, and so on) are rated for energy efficiency. Always look for A rated appliances.

Wall and roof insulation

In a typical 3-bedroom semi-detached house without insulation, you lose 35% of heat through walls, 25% through the roof, 15% through draughts, 10% through windows and 15% through the floors.

In such a home, installing cavity wall insulation could save up to £165 a year. Fitting roof insulation could save another £201 a year.

Contact the Wiltshire Energy Advice Service on 01380 721487 for information on grants and discount schemes for insulation works

Mother and child looking out of double-glazed window

Doors and windows

Using draught excluders is a simple way of keeping warm air in the house and saving money. Using the example below, draught exclusion measures could save up to £21 a year.

A cost-effective way to reduce heat loss is to cover windows with cling film during the colder months. This can be specially purchased for the job from DIY stores or even from supermarkets. It will insulate windows and stop draughts.

A longer-term solution – double glazing your windows – could save up to £84 a year from a typical heating bill.

Related information

Contact details:

Telephone:
01722 434349

email:
raross@salisbury.gov.uk

Postal address:
26 Endless Street
Salisbury
SP1 1DR