If your home is located in an area where the winters are very cold, you may find that your energy bills during this time of the year are very high.
This is largely due to the fact that during these months, you may need to keep your radiators on most of the time, and probably use far more hot water than you would throughout the rest of the year. If you're in this situation and want your energy bills to be less costly, here are a few tips that you might find helpful.
Fit a solar system that features frost protection
Solar systems are highly effective at reducing a household's energy bills, as these systems enable homeowners to utilise the free energy from the sun when they want to power the electrical appliances around their properties.
However, if you're thinking about putting one of these systems on your property and the winters in your area are very harsh, you should look for a brand that offers solar energy products that are designed for use in both warm and cold environments (a number of Rheem solar systems, for example, come with frost protection features).
The reason for this is as follows; some solar energy products that do not feature frost protection may deteriorate or stop working entirely when fitted in areas where the temperatures regularly drop below freezing.
As such, if instead of buying the aforementioned Rheem solar system, which is suitable for use in frosty conditions, you use a system that is designed for use in warm climates, it may not be very effective at absorbing the sun's energy. This, in turn, may result in your energy bills remaining as high as ever.
Take steps to reduce your usage of hot water
During the chilly winter months, you may find yourself craving things like boiling-hot cups of tea and long, hot soaks in the bathtub.
You may also feel the need to fill up your hot water bottle regularly, in order to keep your feet warm whilst you're sitting on your sofa or sleeping in bed. All of these activities can result in excessively high energy bills.
As such, it's worth looking for ways to reduce your usage of hot water during the wintertime.
For example, rather than boiling small amounts of water in the kettle a dozen times a day, in order to make tea and fill your hot water bottle, you may want to fill it to capacity a couple of times and then pour this hot water into some large thermos flasks (these will keep the water warm for many hours). You can then source the water that you need for your tea and hot water bottle from these flasks.
Additionally, if you can't forgo hot baths entirely, try to alternate between using the shower and the bathtub (as the former uses far less water than the latter).