You are probably tired of the suggestion to switch electricity supplier to save money on your bill, but it is by far the best way to save a meaningful amount of money on your bill. Currently, there is about €800 in price difference between the highest and lowest price offerings from suppliers for the same amount of electricity.
There is no reason to have loyalty to any supplier and you should take 20 minutes to review your electricity supplier every year. It can be time well spent and money saved. When you are comparing electricity suppliers, it is important to look at the final cost of the Estimated Annual Bill (known as EAB) and not the individual unit price of electricity. This is because standing charges vary significantly across suppliers and this is a big component of your bill. If you have switched supplier, these options will help you save a little more.
Don’t sweat the small stuff
It’s difficult for us to know how much electricity an appliance uses, but a handy rule of thumb is that if an appliance heats something up, or cools something down, then it uses a lot of electricity. This means you should focus your effort on the big appliances like heaters, kettles and dryers
While not a bad habit to have, unplugging devices like TVs or internet routers when not in use will save very little money. An LED TV on standby mode for a full year will likely use less than €3 of electricity while your phone uses about €3 to €5 across the year. If you have an old TV or older appliances, it will be more, but you need to look at larger appliances to lower your bills.
The washing machine
Homes in Ireland have never had as many electrical appliances, gadgets, and goods, yet our average electricity use per home is going down because appliances today use less electricity to do the same job than before. Energy labels tell us how much electricity — in units called kilowatt-hours (kWh) — an appliance will use across the year or per 100 uses (yes, this is unusual). An energy label (below) for a washing machine shows it will use 63 units (or kWh) per 100 uses.
To get a product’s annual running cost, you must multiply the given number in kWh by the unit cost of electricity, which is currently about €0.30 per unit. If you put on 100 washes a year (two a week), the electricity it uses will cost you about €19. If you put on 300 washes a year, it will use €57 of electricity. These are ballpark numbers, but they give you a sense of average costs.
The image below gives an estimation of how much electricity each appliance uses across the year. Trying to use these appliances a little less will help save money, particularly between 5pm to 7pm when many suppliers charge more.
Heating water
Electric showers are a popular appliance in many Irish homes. They heat lots of water in a very short time and so require a large amount of electricity to do this. Over the course of a year, a daily 10-minute shower will use about €180 of electricity per person. Having a short shower may be less enjoyable, but it will save you money.
If you heat water using an immersion, it is good to check that the thermostat on the hot water tank is set no higher than 60 degrees. It is not advisable to set to a lower temperature than 60 degree for health reasons. In some cases, you may need a qualified electrician to do this for you if the temperature control is not visible.
Cooking
Electricity suppliers offering cheaper electricity on weekends or late at night will charge a lot more for electricity around evening time, when most of us probably go into the kitchen after a hard day’s work and start cooking. An air fryer is a good way to reduce electricity usage simply because it’s much smaller than a conventional oven, so much less electricity is needed to heat the smaller space.
When compared to a conventional oven electricity costs are about €90 lower per year. Air fryers may not be suitable for large families but are very well suited to people living alone or with small families. As we head towards Christmas, an air fryer can make a useful and money-saving gift for someone living alone instead of them using an electric oven.
Drying clothes
Electricity prices in Ireland are extremely high, and this is amplified by the cost-of-living crisis. This impacts different people in different ways, but single parents and the elderly are most affected. Parents with young kids need to wash and dry clothes, and often a tumble dryer may be too expensive or not available if in rented accommodation
A less expensive way to dry clothes indoors in winter is with the use of a small domestic dehumidifier. This will ensure condensation doesn’t build up and will remove the water from the air. Windows can be shut so heat doesn’t leak out.
Most modern dehumidifiers will also double up as air purifiers and have digital settings that will stay operating until the humidity is lowered to reasonable levels (about 55% relative humidity).
A dehumidifier used twice a week across the winter months will use about €15 in electricity. Again, it may be a thoughtful and helpful gift if you know a friend or neighbour struggling trying to get clothes dry.
Article Source – 5 tips to save money on your electricity bill