Most of us have a fair idea of which household appliances are the most power-hungry. But looking at the cost of bad habits (using the oven to bake a potato, boiling a full kettle for one cup of tea, etc) and how those costs mount up over time can be useful in motivating us to make small changes that we haven’t bothered about in the past.

There’s no shortage of advice available. Home energy Scotland is a great place to start if you’re looking for a full guide to saving energy in the home. The table below gives you an idea of the cost of running common appliances. Costs are calculated using current energy prices for Southern Scotland.

These figures seem very small – most being less than a penny a minute. It’s only when we start thinking through how the costs add up over time that we can see where savings could be made. For example:

Scenarios for a two-person household:

This two-person household could save over £300 per year just by following option 2 instead of option 1 in the three scenarios above.

Making comparisons like these ones gives you an idea of how changing your habits could start to make a real difference to your energy usage and your bills.

Energy efficiency tips

Winter fuel payment

Fuel poverty

Back to Cost-of-Living support pages