Seventeen Ways To Cut Your Fuel Bills

Winter approacheth and, therefore, so do higher energy bills. Here are seventeen ways to keep your costs down.

The office manager in one of my previous jobs was a tree-hugging nutter, God bless her. If there was anything she could do to protect the environment or help the poor, she would.

She often said that if you switch off your monitor during your lunch break, you'll save about £45-worth of electricity over the year. Now I don't know how accurate that statistic is, but I still considered it prudent to switch off my screen and not just because she could turn from a charmer to a battle axe when riled. For virtually no effort, I'll save a few pounds and do a little something for the environment. You'd have to be as cold as a stone to do otherwise!

As winter approaches, I think more about this and other little money-saving tips that we tend to dismiss. Looking back over my bills for the past twelve months, I pay a third more for electricity in winter than in summer and an extraordinary three-and-a-half times as much for gas!

Therefore, if there's ever a good time to start taking some of these ideas on board, it's right now before the cold sets in. Here are a few tips that I've collected from all over the Internet:

• The old thermostat trick. Turn it down a degree or two. You probably won't notice the difference, but you could always wear a jumper if you have to. You could turn it down even more at night and when you're out of the house.
  
  
• Lower the temperature of your hot water too.
  
  
• Defrost your freezer regularly.
  
  
• Insulation is an obvious one, but it can be expensive. Your attic roof, water tank and hot water pipes are good places to start. If you have an old house with not much outside wall insulation, you can reflect heat back in from radiators by putting radiator foil behind them. Failing that, kitchen foil with the shiny side facing the radiator will do.
  
  
• Another expensive option is double glazing. A cheaper alternative is to draw your curtains! If you buy heavier curtains they'll provide better insulation.
  
  
• Get your boiler serviced once a year. You'll want to do this before the winter rush for Corgi-registered plumbers.
  
  
• Boil water in a kettle first before using a gas stove. Put a lid on the saucepan and use just enough water for your cup of tea or to boil your peas or whatever.
  
  
• Switch off your electrical appliances when you're not using them; don't just leave them on standby.
  
  
• Turn off radiators in unoccupied rooms.
  
  
• Close the fireplace flue when it's not in use.
  
  
• Allow at least three centimetres of space on each side of the fridge to increase circulation and reduce electricity consumption.
  
  
• Keep your fridge in a cool place so it doesn't have to work so hard.
  
  
• Buy energy-efficient light bulbs.
  
  
• Turn lights off!
  
  
• Generate your own electricity! See the Energy Saving Trust for more.
  
  
• And, of course, switch off your monitor - or even your computer - when you stop for lunch!

These may seem trivial, but if your household picks just five that it can cope with the savings should add up nicely. With winter approaching and npower announcing yet another rise on 1st October, you should look also look for better deals with other utility providers (that's the seventeenth tip in case you were counting!).

It takes at least 28 days to switch, as your new supplier has to give sufficient notice to your previous one. So now is a great time to compare gas and electricity prices and switch to a cheaper deal before the cold winter weather arrives.