The surprising cost of leaving your household electronics on standby | Personal Finance | Finance
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The cost of living crisis is continuing to impact Brits, with everything from your weekly food shop to your energy bills increasing in price. These costs are unavoidable, however, there are key ways you can cut back on your energy usage to save money – and you can start today.
Energy bills will increase by a staggering 54 percent in April when the regulator OFGEM has said the energy price cap will increase.
This could see your energy bills soar by a staggering £693 a year.
There are schemes in place to help with paying bills, with the Government announcing more than £9 billion in loans will be available to households in England, Scotland and Wales.
However, you can knock your own prices down, if you make some key changes at home.
Read More: NS&I increases interest rates on two savings products
Other electronics can also drain your power – so switching them off rather than leaving them on is the best way
Using a plug-in baby monitor and leaving it plugged in will cost you £4.87 a year.
If you work from home and rely on your printer, leaving it plugged in will add £6.50 a year to your energy bill.
And while it may seem like a small cost, leaving your phone charger plugged in but not charging your phone can cost 32p a year.
If you have four phones and chargers for each in your home, that’s £1.28 per year.
So switching off your electronics at the plug when not in use can save you in the long term.
There are other ways to save money on your energy bills too, with personal finance experts Ocean Finance giving their top tips.
1. Install a free smart meter to save up to £36 per year
Getting a smart meter installed could save you £36.93 per year on gas and electricity, according to the Government’s Smart Meter Roll-Out Cost-Benefit Analysis.
2. Take a navy shower to save £80 per year
Taking a navy shower means limiting yourself to just three minutes of hot water.
You can get down to three minutes by doing all your soap and shampoo lathering with the shower switched off, then put it back on again to rinse.
Reducing your shower time from 10 minutes to three can save you up to £80 a year, so it’s certainly worth a try.
3. Use these laundry hacks to save £53 per year
Washing machines use a lot of water and energy to wash and spin all your dirty clothes.
To save money, consider washing your clothes at between 30C to 40C to reduce the amount of energy your machines need to spend on heating the water.
Try hanging up your laundry to air-dry it, too – this requires zero energy while using a tumble dryer can significantly hike up your energy costs.
Plus, doing this can save you a third on your energy bills, and at £160 per year, this amounts to a saving of £53.
4. Regularly bleed your radiators
You can increase the heat emitted by your radiators by bleeding them when needed.
If they are working efficiently, then you won’t need to keep your central heating on for as long.
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