‘Tis the season for our top Christmas energy saving tips!
The festive season is an expensive time of year. Luckily, you can prevent getting a nasty surprise in your January energy bills with these simple tips to keep your gas and electricity consumption down.
Stay warm and cosy and celebrate in style, all while saving energy!
Top tip! Whether you’re on a fixed or variable energy tariff, your bills are still based on your energy usage. That means saving energy will save you money!
Please Connect Me’s top Christmas energy saving tips
Deck the halls with LEDs
Christmas is a time for filling the house with lights, but make sure you’re choosing the right lights!
One of the biggest Christmas energy saving tips is to switch your halogen decorative lights for ones that use LEDs. Not only do LEDs use 80% less electricity than halogen bulbs, but they also don’t get nearly as hot, making them much safer to use on your Christmas tree and around paper decorations.
Use a timer plug to set and forget
Plug those tree lights in using a timer socket and set them to turn off automatically when you go to bed. You’ll save electricity on not lighting decorations no one can see, and you won’t wake up in the middle of the night wondering if you turned the tree off.
Keep cosy without breaking the bank
Winter-time heating is one of the biggest drivers of increased bills at this time of year, but you can save energy by keeping an eye on the thermostat.
Turn your heating down when you have guests over – more people in the house will mean it naturally gets warmer, and you might even find yourself cracking a window, wasting the heat you’ve already paid for.
Home alone? Put on a cosy Christmas jumper before you turn your radiators up and feel festive and frugal at the same time.
Rearrange your tree
Is your usual Christmas tree spot in front of a radiator? Move it away from any heat sources to help keep the room warmer – it’ll also keep your tree looking fresh for longer!
Turn it off before you leave
Electrical devices can draw energy from your sockets even when they’re switched off. If you’re travelling away for the holidays, unplug your gadgets and appliances to save power.
Give the gift of an energy-efficient home
Here’s a Christmas energy-saving tip you can share – give the gift of lower bills this year! Energy-saving gadgets and home improvements make perfect presents that recipients will be able to use for years to come.
Block the chimney (but give Santa a heads up)
Chimneys are a common point of heat loss in homes, but if you don’t use your fireplace, you can block them off with a chimney sheep or other chimney draft excluder. Just let Santa know to use the back door instead!
Adjust your TV
Christmas TV is a legendary UK tradition, but your set might not be operating at peak efficiency. The maximum brightness level on most modern TVs is much higher than is needed in most environments – turning it down to the lowest setting that is still comfortable to watch can drastically reduce the running costs.
Draw the curtains
Winter nights mean it gets dark much earlier – bad news for lighting but good news for your heating. Draw your curtains as soon as the sun goes down to keep your home warmer.
Energy Smart Cooking
We could write a whole page of Christmas energy-saving tips just focusing on cooking your dinner. As a starting point, you can save energy while cooking by putting multiple dishes in the oven at once, using the right-sized pans with lids on and investing in a slow cooker.
Top tip! Looking for more? Check out more than 100 energy-saving hacks here, including lots for the kitchen.
Fill your dishwasher
One of the drawbacks of eating so much delicious food around this time of year is the amount of washing up. Be sure to completely fill your dishwasher before running it to get the most value from the energy cost and hopefully run fewer loads!
Leftovers are cool
Eating leftovers on Boxing Day is the highlight of some people’s holiday – but make sure those leftovers aren’t causing a struggle for your fridge! Leave dishes to cool on the counter before putting them in the fridge, or it can send the internal temperature up, meaning your fridge has to work harder to cool back down.
