Tal’s Top Tips: How to minimise your utility usage

Tal’s Top Tips: How to minimise your utility usage

As I’m sure you are aware, the cost of energy bills saw a huge hike on 1st April 2022, with a record increase of around 54%. Whilst there will be a fair usage cap on utilities in your tenancy agreement, it is very likely that this will now be exceeded. In order to minimise the likely bill for excess consumption, tenants should be as mindful as possible of their usage. Not sure how to do this? Don’t worry, we’ve come up with a list of ways that you can do this…

- Heating

Spring has arrived! This means warmer days are well on their way and heating the house is no longer needed. You should try and use your heating as little as possible now that the weather is improving. Heating is one of the most expensive consumables so minimising its use can help you to decrease potential bills for excessive consumption. Feeling chilly? Make sure the windows in the property are closed and all the doors in the house are shut to keep the heat in. Consider putting on an extra layer too…your Official Bed Hoody would be perfect!

Tal’s Top Tip: 

If one of your housemates does put the heating on and you’re not feeling chilly yourself, turn off the individual radiators in the communal areas and your room using the radiator’s thermostat. 

- Lights

With the season changing and days becoming longer and brighter, you shouldn’t need to switch on the light as often as in the Winter months. However, if you do need to, it’s so easy to forget to switch them off again when leaving the room. Remembering to do this 2 second task can help you to minimise your electricity usage! You should ensure that you turn off the light when leaving a room and that all lights have been switched off before leaving the house – in the famous words of Tesco, every little helps!

- Tumble Dryer

If you are lucky enough to have a tumble dryer in your property, it can be tempting to use it even when the sun is shining! Hanging your clothes on a maiden or a washing line (if you have one) can also help to minimise your electricity bill. We all know that British weather is not typically great, so if it’s raining out and using a tumble dryer is necessary, why not share it with a friend? Whack your clean clothes in together with a housemate’s to reduce overall usage!
 

 Tal’s Top Tip:

 If you do need to use the tumble dryer, make sure you are filling it with a full load and not just a couple of items – ask yourself it’s a worthy load before pressing the start button!

- Appliances

Emma in the office is a stickler for switching off the kettle and toaster at the plug socket…she drives us mad when we come to make a cup of tea to realise the water hasn’t been boiling! However, it turns out that switching off appliances at the wall when they are not in use can actually help to save on energy bills. Consider switching off your appliances at the plug when they are not in use – think microwaves, toasters, kettles, lamps, TV’s, phone chargers, laptop chargers and extension leads!