Brits urged to check hidden ‘vampire settings’ in your house that could be costing you hundreds

Not only is it getting colder but it’s getting to that time of year when everything just seems to be more expensive - and I’m not talking about the endless string of festive party invites and presents to buy.

But the rising costs of living, and house bills in particular. Whacking the heating on comes at a price, so you might be looking for ways to cut costs here and there.

That being said, it might be worth checking for any hidden ‘vampire settings’ in your house that could be costing you hundreds.

I’m talking about the settings on appliances and devices around your home that could be slowly draining energy without you even realising.

Now, this one might seem obvious, but an energy guzzler is without a doubt the humble radiator.

However, British Gas say with a thermostatic radiator valve fitted on to all of the ones in your house, the average household can save up to £75 each year.

Not bad.

This is because you can limit and stop the flow of hot water into the radiator, therefore reducing how much gas your boiler needs to burn.

You can typically pick up a thermostatic radiator valve from hardware stores and online from about a fiver.

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Another vampire could be the temperature on your dishwasher.

According to Compare the Market, the average machine uses between 1.2kWh and 1.5kWh per load, and the typical setting is usually between 55ºC and 65ºC.

However, if you drop it down to an eco-wash, this temperature will drop and is therefore generally cheaper to wash your dishes at.

Another biggie comes back to the heating in your home. Energy Saving Trust say that turning the temperature down on the thermostat by even just one degree can reduce your bill by 10 percent.

The NHS recommend heating rooms you regularly use to at least 18 °C, so you can save some pennies if you’ve been whacking it up to a sauna.

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

Talking about the cold, your fridge-freezer could be another vampire.

The Food Standards Agency recommend fridges should be sitting at 5°C and freezers at -18 °C.

So if you’ve got them any different to its optimum temperature, it won’t be running as efficiently, and therefore could be costing you more cash.

And one vampire could be your own phone and its constant need to be charged.

There’s a feature on iPhone that could be a ‘vampire’ to your battery... the Wi-Fi assist!

This basically fills in the gaps when your Wi-Fi gets slow or laggy and uses up your battery, meaning you need to use the electricity to charge it more often. So if you want to go without, you can simply switch it off in your settings.

Hopefully checking for some of these annoying ‘vampires’ in your home will help save some pennies this winter.

Topics: Cost of Living, Money, UK News, Hacks, Home, Shopping

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_