Saving water and heating, one habit at a time
You do not need major work: good habits are enough. Here are simple, practical tips to bring down what your home uses, and your bill with it.
Using less
Water: turn off the waste, not the taps
Most of the water wasted at home goes quietly: a drip, a half-empty washing machine. Here is where to start.
Habits you can see on your bill
- Fix drips straight away. A tap or a toilet cistern that leaks wastes water day and night, drop after drop: often a new washer is all it takes.
- Choose a shower over a bath. A short shower uses far less water than a full tub. Turn the water off while you soap up.
- Run the washing machine and the dishwasher full. A half load uses almost as much as a full one: wait until they are full and you save water and energy.
- Fit flow restrictors. They are small filters that screw onto taps and showerheads: they mix air into the water and cut how much you use without your noticing. They cost little and go on in a minute.
The meter test: 2 minutes
It is the simplest way to find a hidden leak, for example in a toilet cistern or in a pipe.
- Turn off every tap in the home, including the ones for the washing machine and the dishwasher.
- Look at the meter: the digits and the small spinning dial must stay still.
- If anything moves, you have a leak: call a plumber and let us know.
Do the test now and then, for example when you send us a meter reading: you are standing in front of the meter anyway.
Using less
Heating: warm the home, not your wallet
Heating is the biggest item in what a home uses. Six small moves, and no giving up your comfort.
Six moves for a lighter winter
- 19–20 °C is enough. That is the right temperature to be comfortable at home: every extra degree adds noticeably to what you use. Better a jumper than a scalding radiator.
- Set the thermostatic valves properly. They are the numbered knobs on the radiators: on their own they hold the temperature you have chosen, room by room. Keep them lower in the rooms you barely use. Do not open them all the way “to warm up faster”: they do not heat any quicker.
- Do not cover the radiators. Curtains, radiator covers, furniture and washing left on them to dry block the heat: the radiator is using energy, but the room does not get warm.
- Bleed the air out of the radiators. If a radiator gurgles or stays cold at the top, there is air inside. Open the bleed valve and it heats properly again, all over.
- Air the rooms briefly and fully. Windows wide open for a few minutes are better than windows ajar for hours: the air changes, but the walls and the furniture stay warm.
- Turn it down at night. While you are asleep under the covers, a few degrees less go unnoticed: on the bill they do not, night after night.
Why it pays off
Every good habit shows up on your bill
With metering and cost allocation you pay for what you really use, not for a building average. Every drop and every degree you save is money that stays with you. And the more readings you send us, the more closely your bill matches what you have really used.