Five tips to make your home warm and safe

With the recent energy price hikes to hit UK homeowners, our bills are now more expensive than ever. Both gas and electricity prices have increased again this winter, leaving more people with less disposable income.

To make things worse, costs are unlikely to fall over the coming years and instead, by 2020 you could be paying double the current rates.

But there are ways to make massive savings every year. Have a look at our top five tips for keeping your home warm and safe in 2014:

1. Invest in insulation

Insulation has a huge part to play in the energy efficiency of your home. Keeping the cold out and the warmth in is all part and parcel of maintaining an efficient property and insulation is key to this.

There are several areas of your home to think about too, including the loft, walls and floor. Loft lagging is particularly popular as heat naturally rises. In fact, an uninsulated loft can lose as much as 25% of the heat you generate in the home.

2. Be aware of carbon monoxide

How much do you know about carbon monoxide? It’s an odourless and colourless gas that’s released into the home by faulty appliances. And it’s very dangerous. It can cause headaches, nausea, exhaustion and vomiting. But above all, it can be fatal. In fact, hundreds of people are killed and hospitalised in the UK every year from carbon monoxide inhalation.

Essentially you need to have a boiler service to ensure your boiler is still working efficiently and not putting you or your family’s life in danger. A Gas Safe boiler will be able to inspect your boiler and ensure it’s not likely to cause any problems.

Also consider getting a CO alarm fitted in your home. They look similar to a smoke alarm, but instead detect carbon monoxide in the air.

3. Monitor energy usage

Wouldn’t it be great to know exactly how much energy your home is using at any given time? Well now you can, with a smart meter to tell you what electricity is being used. But why is this useful? Because you can see how much energy is being wasted even when appliances are just left on standby.

By keeping a close eye on the smart meter you’ll be able to make up to 15% savings on your yearly energy bills, by switching off different appliances and being more proactive in reducing energy usage.

4. Wrap up warm

If it’s a cold day, why walk around in a t-shirt and waste money on your heating when you could put on a jumper to keep warm? It may sound obvious, but wrapping up in warm clothes is a great way to save money, rather than turning to the thermostat to heat up the house.

5. Find a new supplier

Have you ever considered the idea of changing your existing energy supplier? How do you know the tariff you’re on is actually the cheapest around if you never compare? And what’s startling, is by switching to a new energy supplier you could save as much as £300 a year. This is both cost and hassle free.

Surprisingly, you could even find a better deal with a non-big six supplier too. That’s right, British Gas, EDF, E.ON, Scottish Power, npower and SSE don’t offer the best rates. Instead you should consider smaller suppliers who still adhere to Ofgem rulings.