It's nearly the big day, and for many of us who celebrate Christmas, it can be very expensive. From Christmas dinner, to presents - but also hosting at your home and all the energy that it takes to cook, keep warm, and keep it lit up! 🎅💫
So, we wanted to share some really easy wins to help you to save money during the festive period to help not only save your pocket, but also the planet! 🌍💷
Follow these really easy steps to put into practice and start saving! 🤑🤑🤑🤑
1 - LED Holiday Lights!
Investing in some LED Christmas lights will pay for itself in the long term. Not only are they safer, but they’ll also use less energy and last longer than traditional lights (up to 50,000 hours!) If you don’t want to splash out on lighting up your street when everyone’s asleep, it’s a good idea to install a timer for your lights, too.
2 - Standby for Santa Clause
Do you have the children at home from school for the children's holidays? That usually means games consoles and TVs are on nearly 24/7, which can use a surprising amount of electricity in itself, let alone when left in standby mode. Get the kids know to switch OFF instead of standby! And on the big day, after a cosy in front of the telly, remember to turn your appliances off at the switch.
3 - Boil the kettle to help speed up cooking on the hob
Got your tats and veggies to boil? A great time and energy saver is boiling the right amount of water in the kettle first, then pour it into your pan on your hob, it will kick off the boiling process, and in turn use less energy than heating it from scratch on the hob or gas cooker. Psst, don’t forget to put a lid on the pan to retain the heat, it’ll also make it cook faster!
4 - Defrost the natural way
Pop your frozen item for defrosting in the fridge the night before, or first thing in the morning of cooking. It can half the cooking time and save energy costs on your cooking.
5 - Keep your oven door closed
This may seem an obvious one, but it’s surprising what a difference it can make. Every time you open the oven door it loses 25 degrees, so it has to work harder to get back up to the right temperature again. Instead stick to your trusty timer, and the oven light!
Extra Tip: After using the oven, providing it's safe to do so, and only if it's out of reach/up high if you have little ones running about - leave the oven door open to let the heat flood out and enter your house for extra heat and warmth!
6 - Use the right sized cooking pans
Using a massive pan to fry a small amount of food will just waste energy and time trying to heat up excess water. Also, make sure your pan is on the correct sized hob/gas ring. If you can see excess gas or hob ring appearing around the sides, you’ll be losing energy and it won’t be cooking as efficiently.
7 - Cooking methods
One of the most energy efficient ways to cook is with a microwave. When used for 10 minutes a day an average household will use around £3 per year. Another low-cost way to cook is by using a slow cooker, when used for 8 hours a day will cost an average household £14 per year. And lastly, an electric hob proves to be the third least expensive way to cook using £90 per year when used for 30 minutes per day.
8 - Wear your best Christmas jumper
Jumping on the Festive Fashion can have serious benefits to your wallet as well as your wardrobe points! Did you know turning the therostat down just 1 degree can save you £80 over the year. Why not hit up your local charity shops and see what gems you can find, sometimes there can be better stuff than in your local high street fashion stores! You'll also be improving your carbon footprint, too. Two birds with one stone, and all that jazz! 😀
9 - Use a tablet for zoom calls and Christmas music!
If you’re seeing your nearest and dearest on-screen this year - which many of us will be with the pandemic still firmly with us (you can go away not, Omricon) 🙄, then try using a tablet for calls, games for the little ones or adults who still play candy crush, Christmas Music and quizzes. It’ll use 60% less electricity than a laptop.
10 - Smart Score
Your Smart Score is a measurement of how energy efficient you are, based on how you use energy at home. Improve your score with tips and advice for each of your energy categories - and save money.
All you need to do is download the My Utilita app (if you haven’t already)!
Find out more about smart score here!
To watch our video here on the community on how Smart Score works click here
11 - Energy High5
Our Energy High 5 campaign,
We’re educating the nation on how to save £££s. Launched in January 2020, Energy High 5 shows people how they can save money by making five simple and free-of-charge adjustments to their energy usage. We've already educated 4 million UK households save – but want to help millions more.
Read more here!
12 - Give us regular meter reading
Are you a credit customer paying by direct debit/bills? It’s vital to give us regular meter reads to ensure your bills are not estimated and that you only pay for the energy you use. You could be paying more than you need to be, and we want to make as much of your money stays in your account as possible! You can give a meter reading here! Or you can submit meter reads via the My Utilita app!
Tip, tip, hooray! Stay up to date with our latest energy efficiency advice on the ‘Energy Efficiency Board’. There is some really helpful stuff, and we’ve got more threads coming your way as the colder months approach.
There you have our top Christmas Energy Saving Tips! We really do hope you have a wonderful Christmas, we all most definitely need and deserve it after the year we have all had. 🎄🤗
So, we wanted to share some really easy wins to help you to save money during the festive period to help not only save your pocket, but also the planet! 🌍💷
Follow these really easy steps to put into practice and start saving! 🤑🤑🤑🤑
1 - LED Holiday Lights!
Investing in some LED Christmas lights will pay for itself in the long term. Not only are they safer, but they’ll also use less energy and last longer than traditional lights (up to 50,000 hours!) If you don’t want to splash out on lighting up your street when everyone’s asleep, it’s a good idea to install a timer for your lights, too.
2 - Standby for Santa Clause
Do you have the children at home from school for the children's holidays? That usually means games consoles and TVs are on nearly 24/7, which can use a surprising amount of electricity in itself, let alone when left in standby mode. Get the kids know to switch OFF instead of standby! And on the big day, after a cosy in front of the telly, remember to turn your appliances off at the switch.
3 - Boil the kettle to help speed up cooking on the hob
Got your tats and veggies to boil? A great time and energy saver is boiling the right amount of water in the kettle first, then pour it into your pan on your hob, it will kick off the boiling process, and in turn use less energy than heating it from scratch on the hob or gas cooker. Psst, don’t forget to put a lid on the pan to retain the heat, it’ll also make it cook faster!
4 - Defrost the natural way
Pop your frozen item for defrosting in the fridge the night before, or first thing in the morning of cooking. It can half the cooking time and save energy costs on your cooking.
5 - Keep your oven door closed
This may seem an obvious one, but it’s surprising what a difference it can make. Every time you open the oven door it loses 25 degrees, so it has to work harder to get back up to the right temperature again. Instead stick to your trusty timer, and the oven light!
Extra Tip: After using the oven, providing it's safe to do so, and only if it's out of reach/up high if you have little ones running about - leave the oven door open to let the heat flood out and enter your house for extra heat and warmth!
6 - Use the right sized cooking pans
Using a massive pan to fry a small amount of food will just waste energy and time trying to heat up excess water. Also, make sure your pan is on the correct sized hob/gas ring. If you can see excess gas or hob ring appearing around the sides, you’ll be losing energy and it won’t be cooking as efficiently.
7 - Cooking methods
One of the most energy efficient ways to cook is with a microwave. When used for 10 minutes a day an average household will use around £3 per year. Another low-cost way to cook is by using a slow cooker, when used for 8 hours a day will cost an average household £14 per year. And lastly, an electric hob proves to be the third least expensive way to cook using £90 per year when used for 30 minutes per day.
8 - Wear your best Christmas jumper
Jumping on the Festive Fashion can have serious benefits to your wallet as well as your wardrobe points! Did you know turning the therostat down just 1 degree can save you £80 over the year. Why not hit up your local charity shops and see what gems you can find, sometimes there can be better stuff than in your local high street fashion stores! You'll also be improving your carbon footprint, too. Two birds with one stone, and all that jazz! 😀
9 - Use a tablet for zoom calls and Christmas music!
If you’re seeing your nearest and dearest on-screen this year - which many of us will be with the pandemic still firmly with us (you can go away not, Omricon) 🙄, then try using a tablet for calls, games for the little ones or adults who still play candy crush, Christmas Music and quizzes. It’ll use 60% less electricity than a laptop.
10 - Smart Score
Your Smart Score is a measurement of how energy efficient you are, based on how you use energy at home. Improve your score with tips and advice for each of your energy categories - and save money.
All you need to do is download the My Utilita app (if you haven’t already)!
Find out more about smart score here!
To watch our video here on the community on how Smart Score works click here
11 - Energy High5
Our Energy High 5 campaign,
We’re educating the nation on how to save £££s. Launched in January 2020, Energy High 5 shows people how they can save money by making five simple and free-of-charge adjustments to their energy usage. We've already educated 4 million UK households save – but want to help millions more.
Read more here!
12 - Give us regular meter reading
Are you a credit customer paying by direct debit/bills? It’s vital to give us regular meter reads to ensure your bills are not estimated and that you only pay for the energy you use. You could be paying more than you need to be, and we want to make as much of your money stays in your account as possible! You can give a meter reading here! Or you can submit meter reads via the My Utilita app!
Tip, tip, hooray! Stay up to date with our latest energy efficiency advice on the ‘Energy Efficiency Board’. There is some really helpful stuff, and we’ve got more threads coming your way as the colder months approach.
There you have our top Christmas Energy Saving Tips! We really do hope you have a wonderful Christmas, we all most definitely need and deserve it after the year we have all had. 🎄🤗
Last edited by Rebecca; 22-12-21 at 17:09.
