How to Reduce Your Energy Bills Without Buying Anything

Energy advice usually starts with expensive measures because that is where the products are. The actual order of return is close to the reverse.

First: find the draughts

Uncontrolled air movement is the largest avoidable heat loss in most older homes, and sealing it costs very little.

On a cold, windy day, walk around with a lit incense stick or a candle and watch the smoke. Check:

• Letterboxes and keyholes — often the single worst offender in a hallway.
• Under doors, particularly to unheated spaces like garages and porches.
• Floorboard gaps on suspended timber floors. The gaps at the skirting edge matter more than those between boards.
• Loft hatches — usually a bare uninsulated panel with a gap all around it.
• Old extractor fans and disused vents.
• Where pipes and cables enter walls, especially under sinks and behind boilers.

Draught-proofing strips, a brush strip, and a tube of frame sealant will address most of this for the price of a takeaway.

Second: adjust what you already control

Lower the flow temperature on a combi boiler. Most are set at 70 to 80 degrees from installation. Reducing to around 55 to 60 on the radiator circuit allows a condensing boiler to actually condense, which is the mechanism it was designed around. Savings of several percent are typical and the house still heats — it just takes slightly longer to come up.

Turn the thermostat down by one degree. Roughly a 5 to 10 percent reduction in heating energy. Most people do not notice one degree.

Use the thermostatic valves. Rooms you do not use do not need heating to the same temperature. Do not turn them fully off in winter, though, as very cold rooms invite condensation and mould.

Set the timer to match reality. Heating running for an hour after everyone leaves is pure waste, and it is extremely common.

Turn the hot water cylinder thermostat to 60 degrees. Higher wastes energy; lower risks legionella.

Third: the small habits that actually add up

• Only boil the water you need. Kettles are among the highest-power appliances in the house.
• Wash at 30 degrees, with a maintenance wash monthly.
• Use the microwave for small amounts rather than an oven.
• Put lids on pans. Genuinely halves the energy for boiling.
• Turn the tumble dryer off and use a rack.
• Check for appliances left on standby — the total is smaller than often claimed but not nothing, and games consoles and set-top boxes are the significant ones.

What to spend money on, when you have money

In order of return: loft insulation topped to 270mm, then draught-proofing anything you could not do yourself, then heating controls, then floor insulation, then glazing. Glazing is almost always last on return despite being first in most sales pitches.