A simply act of gas conservation by lowering the thermostat of your heater and putting on warm clothes gives you at least 10% bill reduction. If you put together the rate of savings to that with the other possible means, then at the end you can come up with a significant monthly savings out of our fixed utility expense.

Ensure your house is properly insulated to avoid heat loss through the winter. Heat flows naturally from warmer areas to cooler areas, so insulating correctly can prevent from the heated warm air in your house escaping outside. Poorly insulated roofs can let the cold in and let the expensive heating straight out. Some homes may have been designed with particular attention to energy efficiency but the majority were not so adding insulation can help reduce energy bills.

You may be able to add insulation yourself if the area is accessible or you may like to hire someone to do it. If you are over 75 then British Gas will insulate your house for free. The main areas that will require insulation are your attic roof and the door to the attic, areas under floors above unheated areas, for example a garage or a basement, walls of a heated basement or extension. It is important if building your own house or extension that the correct levels of insulation are used.

For older houses with not much insulation on the outside walls a good trick to keep the heat from your radiators inside the house is to place heat reflectors behind them. You can buy radiator foil, or simply use ordinary kitchen foil with the shiny side facing towards the back of the radiator.

An old and poorly maintained heating system will not be as efficient as it could be and you could end up wasting energy and money. You should ensure your boiler and heating system is working correctly before the winter sets in. If you wait until your boiler breaks down it can be very expensive to repair. Your energy company may have insurance that you are entitled to or can take out whereby an engineer will come out and service your boiler to help prevent a breakdown and to keep it working efficiently. If you have a very old water heater, you may benefit from replacing it with a more modern energy efficient model. The investment will pay off in the long term by cutting your heating costs. In general, boilers have a lifetime of 10-15 years if properly maintained.

There are a few easy ways to save energy when cooking which can also speed up your time spent over a hot stove. Always use the correct size pan and when heating water only use the amount you need so the gas is not burning unnecessarily to heat the excess. If only using a small pan then use a smaller burner, this saves on gas and will not damage your pans by the flames burning up the side of the pan. Boiling water in the kettle first will save the time the gas needs to be on and putting a lid on will help it come to the boil quicker.