How To Lower Your Energy Bills?

This is something I kind of do on autopilot now, for safety reasons - but I saw it as a tip on another site and realised that it's also something that can save us money.

Do you know which kitchen appliance in the average home uses the most power - the microwave, the stove top, the oven, or the kettle?

If you're like most people you probably said the oven, or the stove top. If you think microwaves contain space lasers, you might have said it's the nuke machine. But no. It's the humble kettle, and it accounts for 6% of a typical home's power use in the UK.

Now there's a lot of things I'll give up to save money, and a cuppa is not one of them. But it turns out most of us still waste energy with the kettle simply by overfilling it. I have noticed a lot of office environments seem to fill the kettle to the brim before use, which sort of makes sense if you're making six at a time. But at home, it doesn't make sense at all.

Instead, to use the minimal amount of power needed, fill it either to the "minimum" line or to exactly the number of cups you need. And when it's time to replace it, consider going for a smaller kettle next time - the smaller they are, the less water is needed to reach that "minimum" line.

It's been said that filling your kettle to a lower level can save an average family around £20 over the course of a year. Not a king's ransom, but we find ten places to save this much around the house, that's a nice Christmas bonus.

It also pays to descale your kettle now and then, especially if it builds a lot of scale and white marks. Scale makes the kettle slower to boil, using more energy. Descaling is simple, just put half a cup of white vinegar in to a full kettle of water, boil it and leave for ten minutes, the boil it again and wait again, then rinse it well. Scale marks on the outside or on the lid or spout, will also come off with a cloth dipped in vinegar.

Now just in case you're wondering how this is a safety thing - my mother, as a small child, pulled a hot kettle down onto herself, scalding her badly and scarring her for life. Back as far as I can remember, my mother always poured her cuppa and without even putting the kettle down, would immediately refill it from the cold tap to the amount that she'd need for the next time, no more and no less. When I asked her why, she responded:

"Because now the water in the kettle isn't hot enough to burn anyone, and there isn't much water in it, if someone knocks it down by accident."

She meant me and my sister, of course, but it's a habit I adopted when I had my own children. And if you only fill to the amount you need, it'll also save you some money.