Reduce energy bills with smarter lighting systems
Energy companies are under scrutiny due to the high profits they make, yet prices seem to keep on rising regardless. The average UK home now pays £1,200 a year on fuel, yet by the time your Direct Debit’s been taken (and your bills potentially estimated), you might be parting with a fair bit more.
Now more than ever, it pays to economise on your use of gas and electricity. Here are three simple ways to bring those bills back down.
Switch On the Lights
The humble incandescent light bulb was banned in the EU, and it now plans to ban inefficient halogen bulbs. Despite the objections, there’s good reason to do this; these kinds of bulbs are bad for the environment, and they collectively waste huge amounts of electricity. This contributes to emissions that harm the environment, and it also pushes up your bills.
LED lighting is a modern alternative that costs next to nothing once it’s installed. While LED bulbs are more expensive, the average bulb emits the same amount of light from a 5-watt bulb as a 40-watt lightbulb did. For mood lighting, you can go even lower, right down to 3-watt bulbs.
Smart Home Controls
What do you use your tablet PC for? How handy is your smartphone? You’re probably already using these devices to play content on your TV and listen to music around the home. With new smart technology, the same convenience and simplicity is being extended to your devices and appliances. You can use existing hardware to switch the heating on, operate CCTV cameras and turn the lights on and off from afar.
Smart technology is partly about convenience, but it’s also about saving money on bills. The Nest thermostat is the best-known smart thermostat on the market, and it works by learning when you’re at home and adjusting the heating to match. You can also switch your heating on via an app. Nest is just one of hundreds of devices that are making our homes more efficient and cost-effective.
If you feel that your home is not fully prepared to be smart-enabled then you may want to consider rewiring your home to see what is required.
Consumer Units
Upgrading your technology is an obvious way to cut bills. You may not have considered that there’s an even smarter way to save: by swapping out your consumer unit. This oft-forgotten box of tricks sits in your meter cupboard and contains the fuses and other safety features that keep your home powered up.
A new consumer unit is an investment that could pay dividends through energy savings. You’ll need to pay for the unit, and the electrical testing that follows, using a professional Part P registered supplier like MD Bespoke.
Take Action
During the summer months, it’s easy to be complacent about energy bills, but we’ll all be feeling the pinch again when winter comes around. Act now and future-proof yourself against ongoing energy price increases. MD Bespoke will carry out a survey and advise you on the best ways to save money, while updating your home electrics so that they function as efficiently as they can.
