It’s time to jingle your bells and deck your halls. But before you get tangled up in Christmas tree lights, here are 6 simple ways to save money on your festive season energy bill.
1. Upgrade to LED Christmas lights
If the same string of Christmas lights are being wrapped around your tree year after year, it might be time to upgrade to LED lights. Why? Because chances are that their incandescent light bulbs are costing you a fortune in electricity. LEDs are all the rage now because they last 5 times longer and use a fraction of the electricity. They range in price from €3.50 to €50 at Argos and Woodies.
2. Update your home with ‘smart’ gadgets
As homes become ‘smarter’, one particular gadget that is making an appearance in Irish houses is the remote control socket. This handy accessory allows you to use a remote to switch off all devices hooked up to particular power points. Use them to prevent TVs, DVD players, game consoles and other devices from sucking up energy in standby mode (they're also handy for turning off the Christmas tree lights). They can be picked up for around €20-€30 at various retailers such as Woodies.
3. Decorate the garden with solar lights
You don’t need to be able to actually see the sun (does anyone remember what it looks like?) for your solar lights to charge because solar lights can soak up energy through Irish clouds. Use them to decorate your garden for Christmas and feel smug knowing that they are costing exactly you zero cents in energy usage. Woodies have a variety of solar lights ranging in price. You can also pick them up from Amazon.
4. Use candles instead of lamps
‘Tis the season for being obsessed with candles. Why not use candles in the living room instead of lamps? Pick up some battery operated tealight candles for €1.50 in Dealz.
5. Be smart about your cooking
Whether you’re a master or a disaster in the kitchen, you can cut the energy bills by cooking more efficiently. Use pot lids when boiling, cook several items at a time while the oven is hot, check your dish by looking through the glass instead of constantly opening the oven door, and cook extra food on Christmas day so that you don’t have to use energy cooking the following day.
6. Track your electricity usage
Track and control exactly how much you are spending on electricity by switching to a pay as you go electricity plan. Electric Ireland’s Smarter Pay As You Go plan offers the cheapest smart pay as you go electricity in Ireland.
Follow these simple tips and from now on, your Christmas energy bill troubles will be miles away!
If you have any energy saving tips for the festive season, share them below.