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Working patterns have changed since the pandemic, meaning more of us are continuing to work from home ( – research shows that most employees do not wish to return to a five day 9-5 regime bookended by an exhausting commute – ) and so we are using more energy to keep the lights on in our home-based offices, keeping radiators functional, boiling kettles, powering laptops and so on.

Although it is good news that government has announced that energy costs will be capped in the province from November, the cost of heating oil is still significantly higher than it was this time last year and could continue to rise before such a cap is introduced.

As winter approaches, many home workers and families would benefit from deploying all means possible to make sure you are not prone to energy wastage.

These energy saving tips will help people reduce the amount they use at home, which can save money on bills and help reduce carbon emissions, meaning you are also doing your bit to save the planet.

Unless your home is very new, you will lose some heat through draughts around doors and windows, gaps in the floor, or up the chimney if you have one.

Professional draught-proofing could cost around £200 for materials and installation for your whole house, but it could save you around £25 a year on energy bills.

Installing a chimney draught excluder could save an additional £17 a year, as well as 70kg of carbon dioxide emissions.

Over half of a typical household’s energy bill goes on providing heating and hot water. Think about the benefits of upgrading or installing heating controls without replacing your boiler. It’s a particularly good idea to think about this if your controls are more than 14 years old.

Installing a room thermostat, a programmer and thermostatic radiator valves and using these controls efficiently could reduce your energy usage and save you around £75 a year.

Room thermostats prevent your home from getting warmer than it needs to. They turn the heating on until the room reaches the temperature you set, and then off until the temperature drops.

Your thermostat should be set to the lowest comfortable temperature, typically between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius.

Turning your room thermostat down by just one degree could save £60 on your heating bills.

Modern boilers are more energy efficient than older versions. If you have a boiler that is more than 10 years old, you should consider replacing it with a more efficient condensing boiler.

The costs for replacing a boiler will vary, but a straightforward gas boiler replacement plus thermostatic radiator valves will typically cost about £2,300 (excluding radiators). An oil boiler replacement could cost around £3,100.

Think about how much you could save on your fuel bill by replacing a gas or oil-fired boiler.

About a third of the heat lost in an uninsulated home escapes through the walls, so making sure you have proper insulation on your solid walls or cavity walls could help keep the heat in and lower your energy bills.

If you live in a house, bungalow or ground floor flat, you could be losing heat from the bottom of your home. Insulating under the floorboards could save you about £40 a year. Insulating the top of your home – either the roof or loft space – is also an effective way to reduce heat loss.

Insulate pipes to keep water hotter

Pipe insulation can reduce the amount of heat lost from the pipes in your home, keeping your water hotter for longer and reducing the amount of energy needed to heat the water.

It consists of a foam tube that covers the exposed pipes between your hot water cylinder and boiler. All you need to do is choose the correct size from a DIY store and then slip it around the pipes.

Pipe insulation can save around £10 a year on your energy bills.

Radiator reflector panels are a great, low cost option to reduce your energy consumption.

Fixed behind your radiators, they reflect heat from the radiator back into the room, instead of letting the heat out through an external wall.

Remember, you only need to put reflector panels behind radiators on external walls, where they could save you around £19 a year.

You can quickly and easily reduce the amount of energy you use by remembering to turn your appliances off standby mode.

Almost all electrical and electronic appliances can be turned off at the plug without interfering with their settings, saving you around £35 a year on your energy bill.

Switching to energy efficient lights such as LED spotlights could help you save energy this winter, especially as many of us continue to work from home.

LEDs come in a variety of shapes, sizes and fittings – if the average household replaced all their bulbs with LEDs, it could save up to £40 a year.

And for an extra tip – remember to turn off your lights when you’re not using them. This could knock up to £15 a year off your energy bill.

Water use is closely linked to energy use. The average UK household uses around 330 litres of water a day – or 140 litres of water per head every day. So using water wisely can make big difference to energy bills. To help save water, and therefore energy, at home: take short showers instead of baths; swap your shower head for a more efficient model; make sure washing machines and dishwashers are full before using them; and turn off the taps when brushing your teeth.