Most of you are very money-conscious when it comes to your power bills. In all likelihood, you regularly shop around for the best tariff and switch when you find a better one.
Doing this is vitally important. This is because recent figures released by ofgem showed that 57% of British households could save an average of £300 a year by switching. So, if you have not shopped around for the best deal, I strongly urge you to do so.
But, this article is not about switching power supplier. It is mainly about how you can save even more money by changing the way you use the power in your home. Today, we are going to look specifically at lighting. It is an aspect of power saving that is frequently overlooked, which is a shame because you can save a huge amount by rationalizing your lighting.
Use the most power efficient bulbs
Right now, LED bulbs are the most power efficient option. You can find out more about this form of lighting by clicking the link, but here are the most important facts.
The first thing to understand is that LEDs can produce as bright a light as any other bulb can, but they use a lot less power to do so. They are 85% more efficient than incandescent bulbs are and are getting better all of the time. This means that you can drastically reduce how much power you consume to light your home. On average, a UK household that switches from incandescent to LEDs would save about £105.
Unfortunately, there is one issue; LEDs are more expensive than other types of bulbs are. However, in all likelihood, the price difference is nowhere near as big as you think. Since 2010, the price of LED bulbs has fallen by 90%! They now cost just a few pounds each. This means that you will soon recoup your initial outlay.
However, in most cases, it does not make sense to immediately swap out all of your bulbs. A far better approach is to wait until a bulb goes pop and replace it with an LED if you can afford to do so.
The first bulbs you should change are those that consume the most power. These are the highest watt bulbs or those that are switched on for the longest. Therefore, sometimes, it makes sense to swap some of the bulbs in your home around, so you use LEDs in those lighting fixtures as soon as possible.
Use timers and sensors
Even after you have switched to bulbs that consume less power you can still save a significant amount of money by only having lights on when you really need to do so. In some cases, investing in sensor triggered lights or fitting timers is worthwhile. However, you do need to be careful about doing this. You need to calculate how much you will save, so you can work out how quickly you can recoup the cost of buying the timers or sensors. This article explains how to make this calculation.
Re-locate your lighting
It is also important to have your lighting located in the right places, within your home. Well placed lights will enable you to have fewer lights on. For example, setting up a desk light in your home office will usually mean you do not always have to turn the ceiling light on, which typically consume a lot more power.
Taking the time to audit your current lighting and working out how you can save money really is worth doing. Typically, it will only take you a couple of hours to do so.
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