Ways to save by installing or re-fitting things

You may wish to consider installing or re-fitting things in your home to save you money in the long run.

Install draught excluders

A draught excluder is a device used to prevent cold air from entering a building through gaps around entry points such as doors, windows and fireplaces. Fit draught excluders on doors, letter boxes, key holes etc to keep the heat in.

Change out your lightbulbs

Switch out your lightbulbs for LED bulbs. LED lightbulbs use about half the energy of the bigger fluorescent spiral bulbs (even if they are labelled 'energy-saving’ bulbs).

Fit a water saving shower head

If you balk at the idea of having shorter showers or showering less often, a water-saving shower head may be your best bet. For a typical family, it's about a 2 per cent saving, or about £50 a year on average for a typical home.

Install thermostatic radiator valves

Install thermostatic radiator valves on heaters. These allow you to control the temperature of specific heaters, meaning you can control the temperature room by room and turn down heaters in rooms you don’t use much.

This could save you almost 6 per cent, so about £150 a year on average for a typical home, although there will of course be an initial cost for the installation.

Fit low-cost secondary glazing

About 10% of the heat loss from a typical house is through the windows. Secondary glazing can be a cost-effective way of reducing this heat loss and a good option if double glazing is too costly or you’re not allowed to install it in your home. You can find more information on secondary glazing on the CSE website.