Ways To Save Electricity

Where do we use the electricity in our homes?


Electricity Usage Monitors

The basic figures contained within a monthly or quarterly electricity bill do not give you much information as to where your electricity is going – they just tell you how much you have used in total during that period. Therefore it is well worth considering purchasing an electricity usage monitor and using it to see exactly where all your hard-earned money is going.

One great way to find out how much electricity each of your household appliances and electronic devices uses is with a Power/Energy Meter (pictured above) available from the REUK Shop.

Owl CM160 USB wireless energy monitor

Alternatively consider investing in one of the latest wireless energy monitors which show you exactly how much money your total home or office electricity usage is costing you – in real time. For example:Owl CM160 (pictured above). These meters can help you reduce your electricity consumption by as much as 20% simply by showing you what you are using.

Saving Electricity Tips

The biggest electricity users in the home tend to be heating and/or air conditioning, water heating, washing machines, tumble dryers, dishwashers, lighting, and the refrigerator. When looking to save electricity, spend the most time focussing on these big energy hogs to get the biggest effect for your efforts.

Here are a selection of tips to help you to reduce your electricity consumption:


2. Do not leave your television etc in standby mode. Devices can use up to 90% as much power in standby mode as when they are on, so it is a serious waste of energy when a device is left constantly on standby. If you keep forgetting, consider purchasing a PowerSafer – a device which automatically cuts power to appliances when they go into standby mode.

3. Replace all of your inefficient incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient CFL bulbs. Replacehalogen spotlights with much more efficient and longer lasting LED Spotlights.

4. Hang your clothes out to dry rather than using an electric tumble dryer. Ideally use a spin dryerbefore using the tumble dryer.










14. Heat only as much water as you require for drinks and cooking. If you keep forgetting, purchase anenergy efficient eco kettle.


16. Don’t preheat the oven for roasting.

17. Don’t keep opening the oven door. Every time you do so, your oven loses 20°C of heat.







24. Use the recommended depth of loft insulation, and consider cavity wall insulation or external solid wall insulation for which grants are available.

25. Turn off the lights when you leave a room.

26. Separate items when moving them from the washing machine to the tumble dryer. When everything is tangled up together in a lump the drying cycle takes longer using more electricity.

27. Keep your freezer full. A full freezer uses less electricity than an empty or partially full freezer.

28. Defrost your fridge and freezer regularly.

29. Keep the contents of your fridge and freezer tidy so that you can find what you want quickly and not leave the door open for a long time.

30. Use the smallest pot you can to heat food, and keep the lid on to speed up heating and use less power.

31. Fan ovens use less power than non-fan ovens, and pressure cookers use 25% less power.

32. Turn off kitchen and bathroom extractor fans as quickly as possible in the winter since they are sucking the expensively heated air out of the house.

33. Close curtains and blinds before it gets dark (and cold) outside. Make sure they are open in rooms which face the morning sun so that rooms can be heated by solar power.

34. Seal leaks around windows and doors to reduce cold draughts and lower heating bills.

35. Thaw frozen foods before cooking.

36. Iron clothes in a large batch rather than piecemeal.