AAngelaWelcome to Cost Saver Conversations. I'm Angela, and I ask the practical questions so you can quickly understand what matters. Today, I'm joined by Asad. Asad: Hi Angela. We are unpacking "Extreme Weather Energy Savings: Cut Bills by £300+" today and tying it back to the wider Cost Saver ecosystem, including tools like Cheapest Time to Use Electricity, so you can turn insights into action quickly. Angela: Just a heads-up before we dive in: we are your synthetic hosts. We are great with numbers, but as AI, we can sometimes be confidently wrong. Think of us as the digital versions of your most knowledgeable, slightly caffeinated friends. Asad: Exactly. Treat this chat as a smart estimate only, not as professional financial guidance. Always check important details with official sources or a qualified expert before making any big decisions. Angela: Welcome back to the Cost Saver podcast! Today we're getting into something that is, um, honestly just on everyone's mind right now — energy bills and extreme weather. Asad, thanks for coming on. Asad: Hey Angela, good to be here. Yeah, this one's a biggie. Angela: So, look, we all know bills have been rough, but you're saying extreme weather is making things specifically worse in ways people might not fully appreciate? Asad: Yeah, that's — well, the thing is, it's not just that bills are high. It's that these weather events, the heatwaves, the prolonged cold snaps, severe storms — each one of those can add fifty to a hundred pounds to your monthly bill. Per event. That's on top of what you're already paying. Angela: Wait, fifty to a hundred a month? Per event? Asad: Per month during the event, yeah. So like, the winter of 2024-25 — that extended cold period — households were seeing spikes of eighty to a hundred and twenty pounds a month. Just... on top of everything. Angela: That's... a lot. Asad: It really is. And then — and this surprised me too, actually — the summer heatwave in 2024, people cranking up fans and air conditioning, some households reported electricity bills forty percent higher than normal. Angela: Oh! Forty percent? I mean, I always think of winter as the expensive one, but I hadn't really — I sort of assumed summer was the cheap season, you know? Asad: [chuckles] Yeah, not anymore. That's kind of the new reality. But — and this is the bit I want people to hear — most of these extra costs? They're preventable. With the right preparation, you can genuinely protect yourself. Angela: Okay, so it's not just a case of, well, weather happens, pay up. There are actual things you can do. Asad: Exactly. And it's not even — I mean, some of it is really simple stuff. But the starting point, honestly, is understanding where your money is actually going. Because most people dramatically underestimate how much energy certain things consume. Angela: Right. So where do you start with that? Asad: An energy audit. And before you, um — before that sounds intimidating — you can do a basic one yourself. You don't have to pay someone. Angela: That was literally my next question. [laughs] How much does it cost? Asad: Well, a professional one runs about a hundred and fifty to three hundred quid. But a DIY version? Just walk through each room. Note every appliance, every light fitting, every heating source. Check the energy ratings on your big appliances — anything rated below a C is probably costing you more than you think. And then — this is a good one — feel around your windows and doors for draughts. Angela: Feel around them? Asad: Yeah, or use a lit candle or an incense stick. Hold it near the edges and you'll see the flame flicker or the smoke move if there's air getting through. It's surprisingly effective. Angela: Oh, that's clever. I like that. Very low-tech. Asad: Sometimes low-tech is best. And then check your loft — you need at least two hundred and seventy millimetres of insulation for adequate protection. And your boiler. If it's over fifteen years old, it's probably running at sixty to seventy percent efficiency, versus ninety percent plus for a modern condensing model. Angela: Wow. So nearly a third of the energy is just... wasted? Asad: Essentially, yeah. Just going up the flue. Does that make sense so far? Angela: Yeah, totally. So you've done the walk-through, you've found the draughts, checked the boiler — what's next? Asad: Monitoring. And this is where smart meters come in. Most people have them now but they're not actually, um — they're not using the information. For the first month, I'd say check your in-home display every day. Just glance at it. You start to see patterns really quickly. Angela: Hmm. What kind of patterns? Asad: Well, the big one is your baseline consumption. That's what your home uses when you're asleep or away. If that number seems high, you've probably got what we call phantom loads — devices drawing power even when they're supposedly switched off. Angela: Phantom loads. [laughs] That sounds ominous. Asad: [chuckles] A bit spooky, yeah. But it's real. Set-top boxes, games consoles on standby, older fridges. The average UK home loses fifty to eighty pounds a year to phantom loads. Fifty to eighty quid for literally nothing. Angela: That's — okay, that's actually kind of infuriating. Asad: Right? And the other thing is peak usage times. Most suppliers now offer time-of-use tariffs where it's cheaper between, say, eleven pm and seven am. If you shift your dishwasher, washing machine, tumble dryer to those hours, you could save fifty to eighty pounds a year. Without changing your lifestyle at all. Angela: Just by running the dishwasher at midnight instead of after dinner. Asad: Basically, yeah. And if you want to know which appliances are the worst culprits per minute of use — it's the kettle, electric shower, and tumble dryer. Your smart meter will show you. Spend a week just watching it. Angela: Ha, fair enough. So — okay, let's talk about smart tech. Because everyone's selling smart this, smart that. Does it actually, um, does it actually save money, or is it just gadgets for gadget's sake? Asad: Okay so — honestly, it depends. Smart thermostats, like Nest, Hive, Tado — those genuinely work. They learn your schedule, adjust based on whether anyone's actually home, and the best ones use weather forecasting to pre-heat your house before a cold snap hits. So you're not doing that expensive scramble when temperatures suddenly drop. Angela: Oh, that's actually really smart. Pun intended. What kind of savings are we talking? Asad: Seventy-five to a hundred and fifty pounds a year, typically. Most devices pay for themselves within about eighteen months. But — and this is important — you have to actually use the features. Just installing one and leaving the settings alone won't save you anything. Angela: [laughs] So you can't just stick it on the wall and hope for the best. Asad: No! [laughs] You'd be surprised how many people do exactly that, though. Beyond thermostats, energy monitoring systems are worth looking at — they track individual circuits, so you can pinpoint exactly which devices are costing you. And smart plugs, those are great for — like, putting your entertainment system on one that cuts power completely at night. Motion-sensor lighting in hallways. That sort of thing. Angela: Okay. But I'm guessing there's a warning here about not just buying everything? Asad: Yeah, absolutely. The most expensive gadget is the one that sits unused in a drawer. Don't buy anything without a clear plan for how it'll actually reduce your consumption. Be intentional about it. Angela: Good advice. So let's — let's shift to the physical stuff. You mentioned insulation earlier, and I feel like that's where the really big savings are? Asad: You're not wrong. Physical preparation is often more cost-effective than any technology. And some of it is absurdly cheap. Draught-proofing — a tube of caulk costs under five pounds and can save you twenty to thirty quid a year. Weatherstripping for a door, ten to twenty pounds, pays for itself within months. Angela: Under a fiver. That's — Asad: — yeah, it's kind of a no-brainer. And then loft insulation — if yours is under two hundred and seventy millimetres, topping it up can cut your heating bills by fifteen to twenty percent. Cavity wall insulation costs four hundred to eight hundred pounds to install but saves a hundred and fifty to three hundred a year. Angela: Wait, really? So cavity wall insulation could pay for itself in, what, a couple of years? Asad: Potentially, yeah. It's one of the best investments available, honestly. And — oh, this is important — there are government grants. The ECO4 scheme and the Great British Insulation Scheme can cover part or even all of the costs for eligible households. So always check before you pay full price.
