Reduce the energy costs of running your white goods appliances
Apart from heating, the energy we use in our homes is mostly used up by our appliances and these days a lot of attention is being paid to making them use less energy. Although this is good news for our pockets and the environment, there is a much simpler and cheaper way to reduce these costs, and it’s one that many people neglect.
To reduce the energy costs of running all our appliances (often significantly) we ought to start right at the beginning and make sure we are buying our electricity and gas from one of the cheaper suppliers. Most people can save a significant amount of money each year - even if they’ve already changed suppliers before.
These savings can be far greater than the savings you could make by replacing an appliance with one that uses less energy. We don’t need to get obsessive about constantly transferring to the cheapest energy supplier but it does make sense to at least check we aren’t paying way over the odds by keeping an eye on competitive tariffs.
Problems changing energy suppliers
Several years back when the concept was first introduced it was more involved to change suppliers. I’d go as far as believing the process was being made deliberately awkward but after all this time the industry appears to have accepted the concept and is geared up for it. There are now many websites where you can switch energy suppliers for free and with little effort.
My personal experience
I have now changed my electricity and gas supplier three times, and thanks to checking on Switch with Which? last week I just forced a better deal from my current supplier (Powergen) which has resulted in me being moved over to a tariff that they themselves estimate should save me around £160 a year (what was their excuse? See bottom of article*). This proves that even after switching to one of the cheaper energy suppliers you can’t rest on your laurels.
I’ve previously used one of the online price comparison sites that compares lots of energy suppliers and lets you change over with the click of a mouse button. I was pleased to discover recently that Which? who are a non profit making company have launched their own site for checking and changing energy suppliers because Which? are a Consumer’s Association run in the public’s interest.
How much money can you save if you changed to one of the cheapest energy suppliers?
This obviously depends on your current supplier as well as your energy usage but according to Which? -
“Our customers saved on average £200 p.a (This figure is an average so many customers actually saved a lot more than this)”
These savings aren’t all from running household appliances because they will include all energy usage but clearly white goods and other household appliances make up a substantial percentage of our electricity and gas costs.
Why Which?
In the past I’ve used uswitch and found it worked well but I prefer to use Switch with Which? because they are a non profit making company who’s goal is to fight for consumers’ rights. They also even list energy suppliers they don’t have any agreement with which is unique as far as I know.
Quote:
“Unlike our competitors, Switch with Which? compares prices from all suppliers, not just those we have a commercial relationship with”.
The market is so competitive that prices are changing all the time and as my experience has shown, like banks, many energy supply companies try to hook us with a good deal and hope we won’t notice when they give better deals to new customers or when they cease to offer the best deals and slip down out of the best buy charts.
Check and compare energy suppliers prices - Switch with Which?
* The reason I was given for being on a much more expensive tariff (despite having changed over to it last year because it was very competitive) was that -
“Your current tariff is Price Protection 2010, which is not the cheapest but offers you peace of mind that your prices will not rise above the agreed price. This is a comfort tariff, especially when the energy wholesale market is temperamental. If you decide to change your tariff to our new Energy Online Extra Saver (version 3) I have calculated that based on your forecasted energy usage you will save approximately £163.00 per year.”
Of course, for those astute enough to use energy supplier price comparison sites we don’t need any “comfort tariffs” because we can keep checking prices and move to cheaper companies or tariffs as they become available.
(Affiliate links used)
Written by Washerhelp on November 21st, 2007 with
2 comments.
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#2. January 4th, 2008, at 6:57 PM.
This info and advice has been most useful and as I am about to buy a new machine will be particularly appropriate. The info on Service programmes and detergents is especially helpful and Ecconomy 7 myth too.