Heat can escape through your roof, walls, windows, doors and even chimneys. Insulating your home helps keep it warmer for longer and reduces energy use.
Location notice
Please note that this page contains information and links most relevant for people living in Northern Ireland.
If you live in Great Britain, visit our Energy Savers Week 2026 campaign, in collaboration with Citizens Advice.
Energy Saving Week returns on 24 November 2025 for its 25th year.
We’ll be sharing practical tips to help you:
- use less energy
- cut your energy bills
- reduce your carbon footprint
We’re inviting people and organisations to get involved and make a change.
Top tips for saving money on your energy bills
Throughout Energy Saving Week we‘ll share daily tips on how you can save energy in Northern Ireland across five themes.
Check out our daily themes and follow us on Facebook, and LinkedIn.
Day 1 – Stop heat escaping
Day 2 – Be smart with your home heating
Heating your home the smart way helps you stay warm, save money and use less energy.
Heating controls
- Using heating controls helps you heat your home when you need it and save energy when you don’t*.
- Set your heating to match your routine with a programmer or time clock. Thermostatic radiator valves let you adjust the heat in each room.
* Full set of controls includes a room thermostat, programmer and TRVs
Thermostat
- Turning the thermostat up won’t warm your home faster.
Set it to a comfortable temperature and let it do the work. - To save energy, set your heating to come on about 30 minutes before you wake up and turn off 30 minutes before bedtime.
- Turn thermostat down by one degree and save £80 a year and 440kg of carbon dioxide (CO₂) in an oil heated home, or £130 and 300kg CO₂ a year in a gas heated home.
Electric storage heaters
Storage heaters use cheaper off-peak electricity, usually at night, to warm your home.
Newer models let you set the time and temperature, making them more efficient than older ones.
To save energy:
- Turn the input dial down in mild weather.
- Adjust the output dial so heat is only released when needed.
Upgrading to modern high heat retention storage heaters could save you up to £650 and 550kg of CO2 a year.
Day 3 – Compare tariffs and get energy advice
Check your energy tariff
Make sure you’re getting the best value from your energy tariff. Use the Consumer Council tariff comparison tool to find the cheapest tariff or payment method.
If you’re struggling to pay your energy bills, contact your supplier for support. Taking regular meter readings helps keep your bills accurate. If you’re looking for help with your energy bills, our guide walks you through the options.
Get free energy advice
If you need free, personalised energy advice, or want to learn about what grants are available, contact the NI Energy Advice Service:
- Phone: 0800 111 4455
(Open Monday to Friday, 9am–5pm) - Email: [email protected]
An energy advisor will get in touch to:
- Help you explore energy saving improvements for your home.
- Talk through any grants available through the Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme or the Affordable Warmth Scheme.
Day 4 – Look at your options for renewable tech
To meet the UK’s net zero target, we need to change how we heat our homes and fuel our vehicles. This means cutting emissions from energy, transport, farming and industry to near zero by 2050.
The average household generated 2,050kg of CO2 from space heating, hot water heating, cooking, lighting and appliances in 2024. To help reduce the amount of carbon produced per household low and zero carbon alternatives for heating are available such as heat pumps.
Heat pumps: low carbon heating for your home
Heat pumps are a key technology for low carbon heating. They use electricity to:
- take heat from the outside
- raise its temperature
- move it into your home for heating and hot water
What are solar panels, how do they work?
Solar panels use light energy from the sun, even on very cloudy days, to make electricity. This electricity can be used to power your appliances and electronics or even charge an electric vehicle. Our solar panel calculator to discover how much you could save with solar panels.
Day 5 – Make small changes to get smaller energy bills
Making small changes at home can help you save energy, cut costs and reduce your carbon footprint.
Switch off your devices
- Turn appliances off instead of leaving them on standby. This could save up to £55 and 30kg of CO2 each year.
- Switch off lights when you don’t need them to save around £9 a year and avoid 5kg of CO2.
Upgrade your lighting
- LEDs are the most energy-efficient bulbs. They last longer and use up to 80% less power than halogen bulbs.
- Replacing 15 halogen spotlights in your kitchen with LEDs could save around £55 a year and cut 25kg of CO2.
Want to know how much your appliances cost to run? Use The Consumer Council Appliance Cost Checker Tool to find out.
Cooking and washing up
- Around 3% of a typical home’s energy use comes from cooking. Choosing the right appliance for your meal can help you save.
- Fill the kettle with only as much water as you need. This could save around £12 a year.
- Use a bowl to wash up instead of running the hot tap. A 10-litre bowl fills in just 95 seconds and saves water.
Take shorter showers
Shorter showers use less hot water, which means lower energy bills and lower carbon emissions.
- If you have an electric shower, a four-minute shower could save up to £100 and 95kg of CO2 a year
- Spending one minute less in the shower each day could save around £35 and 17kg of CO2 a year.
Working in partnership to help Northern Ireland save energy
Energy Saving Week is run in collaboration with the Housing Executive, Power NI, Phoenix Energy, Bryson Energy, the Consumer Council, SSE Airtricity, Kinecx Energy, NEA NI, Apex Housing Association, Clanmil Housing, Choice Housing, NIFHA, Evolve and Radius Housing.
Useful resources
Energy efficiency advice for households in Northern Ireland
If you live in Northern Ireland, read our advice and funding pages to see how you can reduce your carbon emissions and…
Northern Ireland Sustainable Energy Programme
The NISEP fund is collected from all Northern Ireland electricity customers through a public service obligation.