Household Bills
Six simple changes to your water usage that could save you £700 a year
Although water rates have stayed the same over the last year, the cost for using water has rocketed thanks to soaring gas and electricity prices. However, there are some simple changes you can make that can save you around £700 a year
While we may all love a few cups of tea a day, a luxurious bath or keeping our car clean and pristine every couple of weeks; rising energy prices mean the cost of water usage is soaring, according to new research from Yorkshire Water.
The water company’s ‘Teapot Index’ calculates the energy costs associated with heating water in different domestic scenarios.
Based on standard family usage, running a bath is the most expensive domestic use of water, costing £542.88 in 2022, a 79% rise since 2021 (£303.70). Following closely behind is using a dishwasher, costing £236.60 in 2022, up from £132.68 in 2021, and running a washing machine, costing £222.77 in 2022, an annual increase of 95%.
Six ways to save £700
These costs are predicted to increase by an average of 18% in 2023. However, Yorkshire Water have made six suggestions that could potentially save families as much as £700 per year.
1. Cut down on the brews
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Boiling a full kettle four times a day for a year cost £18.69 in 2022, and price are estimated to rise to £21.90 in 2023. By cutting down to two cups of your favourite hot beverage a day, you could save £9.35 a year.
2. Short showers
Instead of having an eight-minute shower, cut this in half to four minutes. The average household will have 754 showers a year, and if they’re all eight-minute showers, this will cost £256.36. By having four-minute showers instead, you could save £128.18 on showers a year.
3. Get out of the bath
The average Brit has three baths a week, which costs the average household £542.88 a year. Reducing this to one bath a week could save up to £361.92, or by switching from three baths to five showers every week, families could see savings of up to £189.28 a year.
4. Make sure laundry is fully loaded
Your washing machine should be full before you put a load on – at 47.6p a time, you don’t want to be wasting them – this amounts to £222.77 a year (based on nine loads per week). If you ensure the machine is full, you could cut this figure right down, saving as much as £123.76 a year.
5. Pack the dishwasher
Make sure your dishwasher is full before you put a load on – at 91p a load, you are looking at £236.60 annually (based on five loads per week). If you ensure that the dishwasher is full, you could cut your weekly loads and save up to £78.78 annually.
6. Cut down on car cleaning
Washing your car once a fortnight will cost you around £15.14 a year. Cutting this down to just once a month will save you around £7.59 over a year.
Save money, save the planet
But cutting your water usage, you won’t just be saving money, you’ll also be helping the environment, according to Yorkshire Water’s Emily Brady.
She said: “Managing water use in the home is a great way to keep bills down. The environmental benefits to saving water are well known, but there are also great cost savings to reducing your usage – especially when it comes to heating water. The findings from our ‘Teapot Index’ clearly show that you can make a difference to how much you spend.
“Whether that’s only putting your washing on when it’s full, or spending less time in the shower, if each household could make a few small changes, they could save a fortune annually.”