The seven appliances adding £345 to bills – and making your home hotter
TEMPERATURES are rising and your appliances could be making your home even hotter and costing you precious pennies.
With Bank Holiday sunshine and warmer temperatures to look forward to, you might think that switching off the heating would mean your energy bills will drop.
But watch out for these appliances that could cost you a small fortune and cause the temperature in your home to rise.
The Sun asked Nicholas Auckland, an energy expert at Trade Radiators, to crunch the numbers on these costly gadgets.
He said should be careful before overlooking these appliances as they could be adding up to £345.01 to bills.
These “vampire appliances” drain your electricity when they’re left on for long periods of time.
Of course how much you’ll actually pay depends on how much you use the appliance and what make and model you have.
From games consoles to tumble dryers, these devices could cost you a fortune and make it harder to keep your home cool.
Games Consoles – £27.36
It can be easy to forget to switch off your games console in the evening.
But it can mean that it’s adding an extra £27.36 to your yearly electricity bill.
Plus, if a console overheats or is overworked, it could add even more to your energy bills.
This is because the hotter the machine gets, the harder it has to work and the more it costs to run.
Nicholas said: “I recommend aiming to cut down on games console time if possible, especially in summer when the heat from the appliances will heat our homes and the hot weather will force them to work harder.”
Placing your console on a stable surface and in a well-ventilated, cool area will prevent this from happening.
Making sure that you don’t place anything on top of the games console that could block the vents will also prevent it from overheating.
Computers and laptops – £125.19
If you work from home regularly, be sure to unplug your laptop and fully power down your desktop computer at the end of the day.
How do I calculate my energy bill?
BELOW we reveal how you can calculate your own energy bill.
To calculate how much you pay for your energy bill, you must find out your unit rate for gas and electricity and the standing charge for each fuel type.
The unit rate will usually be shown on your bill in p/kWh.The standing charge is a daily charge that is paid 365 days of the year – irrespective of whether or not you use any gas or electricity.
You will then need to note down your own annual energy usage from a previous bill.
Once you have these details, you can work out your gas and electricity costs separately.
Multiply your usage in kWh by the unit rate cost in p/kWh for the corresponding fuel type – this will give you your usage costs.
You’ll then need to multiply each standing charge by 365 and add this figure to the totals for your usage – this will then give you your annual costs.
Divide this figure by 12, and you’ll be able to determine how much you should expect to pay each month from April 1.
Leaving them on standby mode will continue to drain energy.
Nicholas said: “Everyday laptops usually use around 50 watts per hour, which would cost £2.98 per month if you were to use this laptop every day for eight hours, and £35.76 per year.”
This cost could rise significantly depending on the device you use.
A gaming computer, for example, will use up to 500 watts per house due to the power and energy they need to operate, Nicholas added.
“This is an extra £89.43 on your energy bills every year,” he said.
“The hot air vents on computers and laptops will also add heat into the home, so I recommend only running compatible programmes.
“For example, not trying to run gaming equipment on an everyday laptop.
“This will make more hot air come out of the laptop and will likely cause it to overheat in hot conditions.”
Washing Machines and tumble dryers – £145.53
“These are two big appliances for giving off heat in the home, as well as for costing money,” Nicholas said.
Running both of these appliances once a week could cost a whopping £145.53 over the course of a year.
Nicholas added: “I would avoid using the tumble dryer as much as possible in summer, and rely on the warm air to help dry your clothes.
“Even if you don’t have a garden, hanging your clothes up indoors and opening a window is the ideal situation when it comes to drying.”
If you’re hanging your clothes outside the most favourable weather conditions for drying laundry are warm temperatures with no rain, no dampness and a gentle breeze.
But, if you are drying your clothes indoors, you’ll need to make sure that you take steps to avoid damp and reduce the risk of finding yourself with a major mould problem.
We have put together a guide to drying your clothes indoors and avoid facing costs of between £800 and £1,000 to remove mould.
Kettles – £4.44
The nation’s love of brews could be costing us a lot.
Overfill it and you’re boiling more water than you need to, costing extra energy and crucially money.
Nicholas said: “A boiling kettle adds a lot of heat and steam into your home making it hotter, as well as uses a lot of energy.
“If we use the kettle for a total of half an hour, it would cost around 37p per month, or £4.44 a year.
“I recommend only filling your kettle up as much as you need in order to prevent the kettle from taking too long and boiling water that isn’t going to be used.
“I also recommend opening a window when using the kettle as the steam will make your home hotter.”
More ways to save on energy bills this summer
Switching off appliances around your home is one of the easiest ways to cut energy costs.
Senior Consumer reporter Olivia Marshall explains how.
Check if you still need your dehumidifier
Dehumidifiers can help speed up your drying time, while also reducing the amount of moisture and condensation created by drying clothes indoors.
However, you may not need it as often during the summer months when you can open the windows to ventilate your home instead.
You could consider changing the settings so it runs for less time, or turn it off completely if you can let the air in through your windows.
Take your lamps off a timer
During the dark winter months, lots of households chose to put their lights on a timer for security reasons.
As the days get longer, it’s worth checking these settings to see if your lights are coming on earlier than they need to.
Turn off any plug-in heaters
Electric heaters can be a useful way of making a room a little warmer in the winter.
Some of them also come with timers you can set when they come on.
If your gadget does, then it’s time to give the settings a tweak.