NW_SAVING_ON_ELECTRICITY CYM

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Currently most of us spend as much on electricity as we do on the gas that provides our heating and hot water. Electricity consumption is on the increase, despite the many energy saving measures that have been put into place, because of the increasing number and variety of electrical appliances we have in our homes. Reducing our electrical consumption is essential to limiting the level of global climate change.

For information on choosing energy efficient appliances and making the most economical use of them see Electrical Appliances.

See also Running Costs to find how much energy appliances need to run, and how much they could be costing you.

Many of the new things about the home are electronic. They could still be costing you money when you have switched them off. See Appliances Latest for details of what they may be costing you when on standby or when switched off and find out which are the chief offenders.

One thing that we can all do is replace inefficient traditional incandescent bulbs with low energy cfl?s (compact fluorescent light bulbs). The variety becoming readily available now will meet most needs and the additional initial cost is soon met by the savings. There will be no need to keep a large stock of spares as it will be years before you need to change a bulb again. See Low Energy Lighting for more information.

Many of us can make very large savings by changing our energy suppliers and by selecting the best tariff system. In the past these have been problems when making a change but today the process is much smoother and can often be handled on your behalf by companies such as USwitch (who charge the suppliers for the service and not the customer.) Savings are often well over £100. See Selecting and Changing Gas and Electricity Suppliers for a guide to the process and also advice with billing difficulties.