Electricity bills are one of those expenditures which we cannot avoid. Therefore, it is imperative during these financially challenging times that people are doing as much as possible to keep the cost of bills down so they have more money to put towards other things, like a special meal out or perhaps a family holiday.
Recent figures from AllAboutMoney.com have found that even when nobody is in the house, the average home of a four person family (with two teenagers) is consuming between 1p and 6p of electricity every single hour, due to appliances that are left on standby or charging, as well as 'always-on' ones such as alarm clocks.
An extra 6p spent on electricity every single hour tots up to £526 across the year as a whole, meaning that for many people it could be well worth addressing where they could be trimming their electricity consumption.
Lighting can be a good place to start - for example, by switching older bulbs to LEDs or perhaps energy-efficient compact fluorescent alternatives. Editor of EnvironmentGuardian.co.uk Adam Vaughan wrote about how using 40 LED bulbs for an average of 2.7 hours every day would cost £23 annually to run, whereas if he used halogen ones it would cost him £287.
Addressing your lighting solution in order to cut back your bills could also give you a good excuse to spruce up the lighting in a room - perhaps if light fittings are looking a bit dull or outdated.
Some bright new Tiffany wall lights fitted with energy-efficient bulbs could be just the ticket to give a room an injection of colour in time for the summer months, while also cutting back your spending on electricity.
Fitting a couple of the main rooms in the house - such as the lounge and the kitchen - with dimmer switches may also be a good idea as it will enable homeowners to reduce the consumption slightly from time to time but when they do not want to switch the lights completely off.
