Energy Bills: Can You Spend Less?
Energy bills jumped by 10% last month - with the average household spending £1717 a year on their energy bills.
This is expected to increase by a further 3% in the first half of 2025 when the new price cap is announced by Ofgem this Friday.
With energy prices set to rise again this winter, what changes can we make to reduce our energy bill?The Booth family, from Manchester, are paying £252 a month on their energy bills - that’s over 50% more than the average household.
So we sent energy expert Scott Byrom, CEO of The Energy Shop, to see if he could make some quick changes to help out the family-of-four.
Like many people during the 2021 energy crisis, Marcel and his wife Louise were automatically switched onto a new energy supplier when his previous energy company went bust.
Almost two years after the start of the energy crisis, six million households stayed with a provider they didn’t choose, including the Booths.
Scott said: “Energy suppliers are now hungry to acquire new customers. As a result, they’ve got cheaper tariffs that people can switch to and save money. It would take about three weeks for you to switch. It can now be done in five days.”
Before Scott left the Booths, he also gave them other energy saving tips including turning the thermostat down by one degree, only using their dishwasher when it’s full, and taking colder showers.
Over in the North East, we sent plumber Hattie Hassan MBE to help mum-of-three Sarah Bradley, who has seen her energy bills double since moving into her home.
Around 60% of energy consumption in our homes is used for heating our spaces. So, Hattie helps Sarah with some tips including checking her pre-heat settings on her boiler and fitting radiator foils to stop heat from escaping through the fabric of her walls.
Putting foil behind one radiator can cost you around six to eight pounds, but it could improve energy efficiency by up to 20%.
To look at further savings for our families, our reporter Datshiane Navanayagam sent some energy saving appliances recommended by Which? Expert, Harry Kind. These included an air fryer for Sarah and a plug in energy monitor for The Booths.
An energy monitor could cost around ten to thirty pounds and can tell you how much an appliance costs to run. Marcel started out by using the monitor on his gaming computer. I’ve worked out it's costing about £1.30 a day just by being turned on and I leave it turned on all day, every day. But I've figured out if I can put it into sleep mode when I'm not using it, that will get it down to 30p a day.”
Across two weeks, that has saved the Booths’ £15 on their computer usage alone. So from switching - which saved £60 a month - and cutting down their energy use, The Booths could save over £1000 a year.
Louise said: “Wow. £1000 is a whole lot of money. That would be nice for a holiday. First holiday in 20 years without the Children. Can't wait!”
And after watching her smart meter closely, Sarah found that she could save over £260 a year by making small energy saving changes.
Sarah said: “It's been 10 pounds over two weeks. It's unbelievable. I've really got the bug to save now, so I'll be keeping it up.”
Energy Theft
An increasing crime - adding £50 to all of our energy bills - is energy theft. Energy theft is when people tamper with their gas or electricity meters to try to pay less.
Stay Energy Safe - run by Crimestoppers - reported a 55% rise in energy theft in recent months.
Tonight followed a gas engineer from Cadent Gas who checks residential and commercial properties for signs of energy theft.
These signs include pipes that have been bypassed, or look out of place the use of rubber tubing or leaking. After checking the inside and outside of a takeaway for signs of tampering, gas engineer Steve found a service pipe that was leaking gas inside the property.
Steve said "If we hadn't come and done these checks, the worst case scenario could have been an explosion. It could have caused death. We've taken away that risk today and obviously we're making it safe."
Dave Garner, Director of Safety at Cadent, said: “Where people feel they have no option but to tamper with meters and steal energy, I would implore them to reach out to Stay Energy Safe, their gas supplier, or look for support at one of Cadent's centres for warmth.”Advice if you are struggling to pay your bills:
National Energy ActionOfgemCitizens Advice - Grants and benefits to help you pay your energy bills.Advice on applying for pension credit:
Age UKGov.uk Advice on making your home more energy efficient:
Energy Saving Trust - Advice to cut your home’s carbon footprint and energy usage.The Eco Experts - Energy efficiency and retrofitting advice.The Boiler Upgrade Scheme - Government grants to upgrade your boiler to a heat pumpAdvice on reporting energy theft and meter tampering: