Know Watt's What with these money saving hacks

Store food in the allocated areas that new fridge technology provides. For example, lower temperature zones and salad bins with moisture control keep certain foods in the perfect preservation environment and extends the life of those items.

Minimise door opening! The temperature inside a fridge rises significantly each time the door is opened. Make sure you shut the door when you get your milk out to make a cuppa.

Utilise easy access shelves, pull out shelves and folding shelves to ensure no food items are forgotten at the ‘back of the fridge’ and end up in the bin.

Choose rating ‘C’ over ‘F’ and you could save nearly £40 a year. Go to our savings calculator.

Never fill the drum? New washing machines can detect half and quarter loads of laundry and fill accordingly, check your instruction manual to see if yours has this technology. If you regularly need half-load washes you could be saving £41 over the year on energy, water and detergent.

With ovens, it’s all about using them right to save yourself a lot of energy and money. Switching up your cooking routine with small changes will decrease those energy bills. Plan your meals and embrace batch cooking – both warming up meals and cooking larger quantities saves energy.

• Taking out any unneeded accessories — trays and grids – can save up to 20% on energy
• Avoiding preheating can save another 20% – most dishes like roasts and casseroles can be placed in the cold oven, especially a fan-assisted one.
• Preparing several dishes at a time and loading them side by side can reduce energy by up to 45%.
• Checking the food through the glass door, rather than opening it, can save you up to 25% in lost energy.
• Being canny with your residual heat saves up to 10% of energy. So, for a roast with 60-minute cooking time, turn off the oven after 50 minutes and use that 10 minutes of free heat!

Microwaves

It costs just 4p to microwave cook a baked potato versus 60p in the oven. Combi microwaves with built-in convection ovens are even more versatile. Roasting a chicken with one will cost you 48p compared to 71p in the oven.

Air fryers

Air fryers make tasty fried food with less oil and less energy because they heat a smaller space. Cooking fried chicken quickly and healthily for 15 minutes consumes only 0.35kwh, costing just 11p – half the price of using an electric, fan-assisted oven. Air fryers are also great for baking sweet treats like brownies and biscuits.

Kettles

When whipping up pasta for your kids, use your kettle to boil the water. It will cost you £2 twice weekly over a year versus £10 on the hob. But remember to descale your kettle regularly, especially in hard water areas – limescale means longer boil times and greater energy use.