Top 12 Christmas energy saving tips

According to research from Nesta, lowering the flow temperature of your boiler improves your boiler’s efficiency by around 4%. The boiler doesn’t need to heat the water going to your radiators so much, which should lower your heating bills.

This works best if you have a combi boiler when you can reduce your flow temperature to about 60 degrees. If you have a conventional boiler with a hot water cylinder, make sure the temperature is no lower than 65 degrees. This stops harmful bacteria forming in your hot water supply.

For more information, read our guide to lowering your boiler flow temperature.

Stopping warm air from your home disappearing up the chimney could save you £55 in Great Britain (GB) and £65 in Northern Ireland (NI). It may stop Santa Claus coming down the chimney to deliver gifts, though.

You can pick up a chimney draught excluder for around £25 online. Even if you’ve capped your chimney, adding a chimney balloon stops heat being lost in the chimney stack itself. If you still use your flue for a real fire with a Yule log, be sure to take the draught excluder out before lighting.

The festive season comes with a lot more washing up to do, and a lot more jumpers with gravy stains. To save money on your energy bills, make sure you fully load your dishwasher and washing machine before you switch them on. And if you have an ‘eco’ setting, be sure to use it.

 Most modern washing powders and capsules are designed to work at lower temperatures. So, try washing your loads at 30 degrees or cooler, which could save you £12 in GB and £15 in NI a year.

For more tips, read our guide on saving energy when using your washing machine.

If you’re spending more time in the kitchen preparing festive fare, your home is likely to be warm enough already. Turning down your thermostat by one degree from 22 to 21 degrees could save you £90 in GB and £100 in NI.

The same applies if you have lots of people around, as they’re giving off plenty of heat anyway. Getting your friends round is one of the easier Christmas energy saving methods!

The Danish concept of hygge (pronounced ‘hoo-gah’) is all about being cosy and comfortable, and it works well for saving energy too:

• Turn down the thermostat and use thick jumpers and blankets to be extra cosy. Between 18°C and 21°C is suitable for most people to be comfortable.
• Switch the lights off and use LED candles to create a seasonal atmosphere.
• Switch off your screens – focus on reading or playing board games instead.
• Have warm, comforting food and drink like soups, stews and hot chocolate.

You could save energy by using an air fryer, microwave or slow cooker instead of an electric oven.

For example, it costs £0.20 to cook a 600g chicken breast in an electric oven. But it only costs £0.14 in an air fryer.

If you’re cooking for a family or several guests, it’s better to batch cook your food in an electric oven and make the most of the heat.

For more information, read our air fryer vs oven guide.

Whether you’re parboiling your potatoes ahead of time or cooking everything on Christmas Day, keep the lids on.

Doing this uses around 10% less energy, your food will cook faster and the kitchen will get less steamy too.

One of the most common ways to waste heat when cooking is when you open the oven door to check on your food.

Every time you open your oven door, some heat escapes and it the oven will need to use more energy to heat back up again.

So, make sure your oven window is clear enough to peep through to see how dinner is coming along.

LED light bulbs typically use around 80% less energy than halogen lights. If you’re still using Christmas lights from years ago, now’s the time to upgrade to more energy efficient lighting Make sure you recycle the old ones as electrical waste.

In fact, replacing all of your home’s halogen light bulbs with LED bulbs could save you £40 in GB and £50 in NI a year.

Better yet, look for solar powered fairy lights and decorations. What better way to lower your electricity costs over Christmas than by using sunlight for free?

Even on cloudy December days, you should be able to capture enough light to power your decorations during the night.

Most modern Christmas lights now come with a timer that lets them stay on for around eight hours and turns them off for the rest of the day. This should help keep your costs down and ensure your lights only come on at night when they’ll look their best.

If you don’t have a timer, remember to switch your lights off at the plug, especially when you go to bed. This goes for your appliances too. Switching devices off standby all year round could save you £45 in GB and £55 in NI a year off your electricity bills.

There’s almost always leftovers after Christmas dinner, and freezing your festive food is the best way to reduce food waste.

Before you put all that Tupperware in the freezer, though, make sure the food cools down completely. This means your freezer doesn’t have to work as hard to bring down the temperature of the food, saving you energy.

There’s always at least one Christmas gift that needs batteries. And if you’re buying toys, then almost every gift will need them.

Rather than relying on disposables that will cost you more in the long run, get a battery charger and a variety of rechargeable batteries. They tend to cost a little more to begin with, but you’ll save money overall and have less waste.

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