Here at Consumer Rights we get that saving energy only offers benefits.

Whether you want to save money on energy costs, contribute to a better environment or climate, we must be less dependent on foreign fossil fuels, or perhaps all of these reasons at the same time.

By saving energy, you can achieve all these different benefits. 

Most people do it mainly for their wallets. But tips for saving energy can often be found in two extremes: expensive measures or a fall in comfort. Why should you choose between a cold house or an empty wallet?

There are enough energy-saving tips that cost very little but result in high savings! The energy and money you save will be earned back on your energy bill the following year. And that can generate a lot of money. For example, in some cases, you can save up to 50% on your gas bill; that can add up to  £1000 a year! But you don’t have to spend thousands of pounds on that. Many tips cost you nothing or just a tiny investment. As a result, you quickly recoup these costs.

Unfortunately, saving energy does not happen automatically. You have to take action, but this doesn’t have to take too much time. You can easily apply all tips yourself. Doing this will make it a lot cheaper. While energy costs rise, there are many options for reducing your consumption. One thing is sure: the savings will not fall from the sky; you have to save energy yourself.

Don’t Sacrifice Your Comfort!

Do not sit in the cold in an attempt to save energy because so much more is possible. Save hundreds of pounds without sacrificing comfort. There are many cheap ways to save a lot; for example, consider a Radiator foil or a water-saving shower head. Find more energy-saving devices here.

Saving electricity is easy, thanks to the many savings tips available online. Some devices in your home use more power than you might think. You can save a lot of money on ‘stealth’ power that is used without you realizing it. See below for some examples.

How a master-slave socket works

One device is the master in the socket. For example, this could be a desktop computer. When the computer turns on, the power strip switches on the enslaved people. That can therefore be the monitor, printer, and audio boxes. The enslaved people are also switched off as soon as the computer is switched off. This way, you automatically save electricity.

The socket reacts to the power consumption of the master. The other sockets are switched off or on if the power consumption falls below or above a certain level. You can easily set this limit yourself. By increasing the setting, for example, the sockets will only be switched on later. This can be useful if, for example, you leave the computer on standby. The computer then consumes a little more power. The enslaved people then remain switched on.

This way, you can easily save power without having to switch yourself! You could also use it with other devices, such as your television, hi-fi and DVD recorder. Be creative and save a lot of energy and money!

Set-Top Boxes

This is your digital TV receiver, also called a decoder. A relatively small device, but the TV cabinet uses power day and night. You do not use the device for most of the day. So you can save a lot of electricity with that.

Research by climate agencies in 2011 showed that set-top boxes use a lot of energy. The consumption turned out to even be up to 29 watts. That is £55 electricity costs per year, it may not seem much, but everything adds up. The device to watch TV consumes 24 hours a day, while you will probably only watch TV for a few hours.

So it saves a lot to turn off the set-top box during the hours that no TV is watched; this includes any Freeview, Sky, or Virgin boxes. For example, think of night hours or during the day on work days when you are not home. You can turn off the device for many hours and save a lot of money!

Modern, digital time clocks take the work off your hands. There are digital timers that you can set based on time and date. And even on weekdays and weekends. They stay precisely on time thanks to the DCF signal and switch automatically to summer and winter. Set the time of activation and deactivation precisely to the minute. Very handy!