Saving money on your energy bills 

With the rising cost of living, many of us are looking for ways to save money on our bills, including our energy costs.  

Our tips below could help to save you money on your energy bills. We have also partnered with Groundwork Green Doctors to offer a completely free of charge energy-saving service. A green doctor can help residents save money and keep their homes warm. Referrals can be made through the Cash Wise and Sustainability teams for eligible residents.  

  • Set your heating to turn off one hour before you leave the house and turn on just half an hour before you return. This will mean heat is not wasted on an empty house. 

  • Turn down the temperature on your boiler to 60 degrees Celsius. 

  • Close windows before turning on your radiators and make sure curtains or furniture are not in front of radiators. 

  • Putting clothes on a radiator to dry stops heat reaching the rest of the room and creates damp air in your home that could cause condensation. Dry your clothes outside in nice weather. If you do need to dry clothes inside, make sure you open a window to allow the damp air to escape.  

  • LED light bulbs cut electricity costs. They can be more expensive to buy but last over 25 times longer and use less energy. One bulb uses the equivalent of £15 less energy a year than a regular light bulb. Always turn the light off when you leave a room. 

  • 90% of a washing machine's energy use is spent on heating the water, so if you wash your clothes at 30 degrees Celsius, you can save around 46% compared to washing at 40 degrees. Modern washing powders and liquids are designed to get clothes clean at this temperature. When washing or drying by machine fully load the appliance. One full load uses less energy than two half loads. 

  • Put a lid on your saucepan to reduce the amount of heat that escapes. If using a kettle only boil the amount of water you need. 

  • An ordinary shower uses two fifths of the water that a bath does. In contrast, power showers use as much water as a bath and sometimes more. 

  • Turning the tap off when you clean your teeth can save around five litres of water every time. 

  • Don't use remotes to switch off the TV, DVD or stereo, this leaves the appliance running on standby. Items left on standby use up to 85% of the energy they would if fully switched on costing you on average an extra £37 a year. 

  • Turning the thermostat down by one degree and lowering the temperature on thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) could save you as much as £75 a year, according to the Energy Saving Trust, and reduce your carbon footprint. 

  • Switch the socket off where you can and take out the plug to save up to 6% on your energy bills. 

Check our guides on how to use your combi boiler or storage heating efficiently and see if you may be eligible for the £150 Warm Home Discount to help pay for your bills over winter. 

You can also visit our Cash Wise website which is full of useful information around energy saving and ways to help make your money go further. 

To see how you can save money on your energy bills, visit an OFGEM accredited comparison site which adheres to the confidence code; a promise by the website to act in the best interest of its customers. Using comparison websites can help you see whether you can get a better deal for the energy you use.

Can I save money with a water meter?

We are working with Yorkshire Water to look at ways our tenants who pay for their water alongside their rent and service charges may be able to save money.

A water meter could help some tenants to pay less by only paying for the water they use, depending on their individual usage. Please bear in mind that if you use a lot of water, you could end up paying more with a meter. 

There is a handy tool anyone can use to work out how much they could potentially save or there's more information about this option on the Yorkshire Water website.

If you’re thinking about switching to a water meter, you can request a free call back from Yorkshire Water. 

If things don’t work out with your water meter, you can go back to your previous way of billing. You just need to let Yorkshire Water know within two years of the fit.

Due to the pipework, some homes may not be able to have a water meter installed. In these instances, you could still save money if you live alone or you live in a certain types of home. The charges are similar to having a water meter and the Yorkshire Water technician will let you know what they would charge you.

Yorkshire Water also offers many support schemes to make bills more affordable.