It’s Easy to Watt-Watch, says Deborah

Infuriated by rising energy bills last Spring, Deborah Cummings took to the internet to change suppliers – and came across energy company E-on’s Watt-Watchers Challenge. The prize of £1000 cash and £500 worth of energy saving equipment for the home was a bonus, so Deborah signed up and was delighted to be one of 6 regional finalists. “I’m actually surprised at how easy it has been,” she says now.

Deborah, Mark and 18 month old Aaron had recently moved from a flat in Edinburgh to a roomier home in Musselburgh. As well as enjoying a more spacious family home, Deborah has appreciated having more recycling facilities but, like everyone else, she has seen her energy bills going up and up. The time came to try to do something about it.

“Everybody really knows what to do,” Deborah says, “but the competition has made us focus more on changing our habits. I’m much more aware now of what I’m doing.”

Early on in the competition, the family were visited by an ‘energy doctor’ who suggested a number of things they could look at. They were given £50 to spend on energy saving devices and an energy monitor, which shows exactly how much energy the house is using at a given time.

Deborah already had an eco kettle from Eon, which has a reservoir and boils just the amount of water you want, so spent most of her allocation on energy saving light bulbs, including dawn to dusk lights, which are plugged into a socket and give you just enough light to get around by, in the middle of the night (something a lot of parents would appreciate!)”

The house is a listed building and the previous owner had changed the windows without permission, so one of the first things to do was to replace the windows with acceptable double glazed windows. Other than that, Deborah points out that it’s more about having the will to change your habits.

Energy hungry appliances are the washing machine and tumble drier, so washing at 30 degrees was something to try. “I wasn’t sure at first,” she admits. “With having a baby, I wanted everything to be properly clean, but they seem all right. And during the summer I’ve been able to put the washing out to dry. We turned down the thermostat from 65 to 60 and I think that is going to be all right, although the central heating has only been on once so far.

“My husband and I have showers but Aaron still has a bath every night – I wasn’t compromising on that – he just has less water. I cut up the vegetables into small pieces so that they cook more quickly and use less water when I’m cooking. And we switch everything off at night and when we go out. It’s a bit annoying having to reset clocks and timers when you come back in but I’m surprised at how quickly it becomes routine.

“That’s one thing I would really like to emphasise. It’s a lot easier than you think to save energy. If you can’t afford to buy the big things like insulation, new boilers, double glazing and so on, you can still make a difference by incorporating a lot of little things that add up.”

Indeed, studies have shown that lifestyle is just as important as having efficiency gadgets. One of the most important concepts in energy saving is concerned with reducing demand.

Even if Deborah doesn’t win the grand prize, she knows that she will have saved herself a lot of money and will continue to do so for a long time. However, if she does win, the prize will go on a new gas boiler to replace the elderly model now in the house. And then she will save even more!

The Owl Wireless Electricity Monitor is £34.95 from John Lewis.

The Kenwood JK450 Energy Saving Kettle has measures enabling you to boil as little as a single cupful of water. £29.95 John Lewis.