Energy bills have been at an all time high over the past year, with people looking to keep their usage as low as possible to save on their bills. Of course, this shouldn’t mean that you have to compromise on keeping your home warm. That’s why we’ve listed some budget-friendly ways you can keep your home warm and even potentially get your heating systems upgraded.
Read on below to learn more.
Identify Problem Areas
Identifying any problem areas in your home where you could be losing more heat allows you to spend your money targeting and fixing the areas that would be the most effective in improving the energy efficiency of your home.
Below are three of the common tricks that you can do to affordably increase your home’s energy efficiency that many people often forget or overlook.
Draught-Proofing
Once you have identified problem areas in your home where heat could be escaping, it is a good idea to draught-proof these. This can be done by filling gaps around electrical fittings, ceiling to wall joins and around areas where pipework leads outside using sealant. It may also be a good idea to reseal your window edges if they need it, ensuring that you don’t block any vents when doing so.
Draught excluders are also an affordable solution that help make a difference. These can be bought or made inexpensively and help to keep your home toasty when placed in front of external doors in the colder months. Doing these things could save you over 10% on your heating bills by keeping your home cosier at lower temperatures.
Insulate Pipes
Insulating your pipes, radiators and water tank (if you have one) is a quick and easy solution to help save on your energy bills. Heat can leak from your pipes before it even has a chance to circulate around your home, so installing pipe lagging prevents this and improves your home’s thermal efficiency.
The same can be said for water tanks, whilst using reflectors behind radiators improves their efficiency.
Change Curtains
Closing your curtains as soon as it gets dark isn’t just about keeping your privacy from prying eyes outside, but they actually help to keep the heat in when temperatures start to drop. Investing in thick or insulating blinds or curtains is one of the easiest ways you can help your home to stay warm, as they stop the heat from escaping out your windows.
Heating Grant
If you’ve done all these things and they’re still not quite cutting it, then you should check to see if you’re eligible for funded heating upgrades. If you are on means tested benefits or your home has a low energy efficiency rating, then you may be able to benefit from a free heating grant as part of the government’s ECO4 scheme, which could see you receiving free upgrades to your heating system or other energy efficiency solutions.
If you’d like to learn more about these schemes and check your eligibility, then we can help you here at UK Energy Management. Get in touch with us today and we’ll handle the rest.
