Managing the cost of energyIf your energy bills are rising and you don’t know what to do or where to turn, let us help you. We’ve pulled together some expert advice and information on practical steps you can take to try and make things a little easier.
Ofgem is the energy regulator for Great Britain and they’re responsible for protecting energy consumers and making sure everyone is treated fairly. Under their rules, your energy supplier must work with you to setup a payment plan you can afford and offer you the following:
Your supplier will also have a Priority Services Register that you can access if you are at risk of not being able to afford your energy bills. The Priority Services Register is a free support service operated by energy suppliers. It offers a range of services to help people in specific situations, such as:
You might still be able to register for other reasons if your situation isn't listed. For example, if you need short-term support after a stay in hospital. Click here to find out more.
Extra help for those on prepayment metersIf you're finding it a challenge to keep your prepayment meter topped up, there's extra help available. Your supplier can offer emergency credit if you're not able to get credit and are concerned about getting cut off. They might also have a backup plan, like 'friendly' credit, so you won't lose power when the stores are closed. Finally, you may be able to get additional support credit. What you can get and how it all works depends on your individual energy supplier, so it's best to talk to them as soon as you can.
Read more about prepayment meters here
If you need help with your energy bills, or, if you want to check whether you are receiving all of the benefits you are entitled to please fill in our help and support contact form and one of our advisors will get back to you shortly.
We’re here to help. If you’re having to make difficult choices with your household budget and rising costs are causing concern, speak to us about our free Better Days programme. Through Better Days, we offer a range of support services from financial and debt advice, through to employment and digital skills. We know that money worries can have a knock-on effect on wellbeing and we also work with trusted partners who can provide mental health support.
Don’t delay, find out more today and speak to us to see what we can do make things a little easier for you.
You can also look out for events in your community where our Better Days team can speak to you in-person, including our free Winter wellbeing events.
You can also find information and advice from a host of trusted sources. We’ve listed some below.
Head to the Money Saving Expert website for reliable and up-to-date information and tips on a wide range of energy-related topics. From whether to switch energy suppliers and the cheapest ways to keep warm, to an explanation of the energy price cap and your rights as an energy customer.
The Citizens Advice website is another fantastic hub of advice and support.
Here you’ll find information on a wide range of topics such as how to read your energy meter and understand if it’s faulty, comparing how much your appliances cost to run, how to get a better energy deal, and what to do if you want to raise a complaint against your energy provider.
If you prefer we can arrange a referral to Citizens Advice on your behalf. To speak to one of our advisors to arrange this please fill in our help and support contact form and one of our advisors will get back to you shortly’.
Scope is a disability equality charity that offers free advice to disabled people in England on a range of issues. This includes managing debt, energy efficiency, accessing benefits, grants, trusts and fuel vouchers, understanding bills and support with registering for Ofgem’s Priority Services Register. Find out more here.
If you are a pensioner in the UK and receive means-tested benefits you could receive a Winter Fuel Payment worth between £100 - £300 this Winter to help you pay your energy bills. There have been two major changes to the scheme for. Firstly, you now need to be in receipt of qualifying means-tested benefit such as Pension Credit.
Secondly, for the winters 2022/2023 and 2023/2024, qualifying households received an additional Pensioner Cost of Living Payment worth £300 along with their Winter Fuel Payment. These payments are not being repeated for winter 2024/2025. You can find out more information in our blog here.
As of September, the Government has not announced any cost-of-living payments for this Winter (2024/25). If this changes, we will update our website accordingly’.
Is your gas or electricity bill a lot higher than you’re expecting? This guide can help you work out why.
This guide will help you find out what uses the most energy in your home, and how you can cut it down.
There are plenty of ways you can save on how much water you use. Learn more here.
Economy 7 is an electricity tariff that means you pay a different price for your electricity at different times of day. Depending on the times of day you use electricity the most, an Economy 7 tariff could help you save money. Find out more here.
We want to make sure that the energy advice we give you comes from people who know it best. That’s why we’ve spoken with our Energy and Environment Lead, Dan Welch. He’s provided some of his best tips for saving energy:
Lowering your heating by just 1°C can save about £100 a year on your energy bills. The World Health Organisation says that 18°C is warm enough for healthy adults, with slightly higher temperatures needed for those who have long-term health conditions, are older or are pregnant. Remember, there's no need to turn up the temperature when it's colder outside. The thermostats job is to heat the home to the set temperature, it just may take longer in colder weather.
While we're talking heating, a common debate we tackle in our myth busting guide is whether it’s cheaper to leave the heating on low all day or turn it on just when you need it (the answer is below).
Set your heating to come on just when you need it, like in the morning and evening. A timer can help you cut costs by up to £75 a year.
If you have storage heaters, consider turning the temperature down or reducing the ‘output’ setting when you’re not at home or you go to bed. This will save heat for later in the day and reduce the cost of charging the storage heater each night.
On our ‘your energy, our support’ page, we have a handy ‘Getting the most out of your digital storage heater’ video to help you understand how to best use your storage heater so that you use less energy and enjoy more warmth.
To save energy, it can help to know just how much each appliance is costing. We've crunched some numbers for you, using standard appliances and rates under the Price Cap for electricity (24.5p per kilowatt hour, or kWh). These are ballpark figures as different models use different amounts of power, but it should give you a rough idea.
|
Appliance |
kWh (1*) |
Cost per hour (2**) |
|
Tumble dryer (3,000 watts) |
3 |
74p |
|
Oven (2,000W) |
2 |
49p |
|
Kettle (1,800W) |
1.8 |
44p |
|
Electric hob (1,700W) |
1.7 |
42p |
|
Vacuum cleaner (1,400W) |
1.4 |
34p |
|
Dishwasher (1,200W) |
1.2 |
29p |
|
Microwave (1,200W) |
1.2 |
29p |
|
Toaster (1,200W) |
1.2 |
29p |
|
Iron (1,100W) |
1.1 |
27p |
|
Air fryer (1,000W) |
1 |
25p |
|
Washing machine (700W) |
0.7 |
17p |
|
Electric clothes airer (250W) |
0.25 |
6p |
|
Slow cooker (225W) |
0.225 |
6p |
|
PlayStation 5 (201W) |
0.201 |
5p |
|
Electric blanket (100W) |
0.1 |
2p |
|
Sky Q box (45W) |
0.045 |
1p |
|
TV (30W) |
0.03 |
0.74p |
|
Fridge (28W) |
0.028 |
0.69p |
|
BT Hub (12W) |
0.012 |
0.29p |
|
Light bulb (10W) |
0.01 |
0.25p |
|
Sky Q box (standby) (9W) |
0.009 |
0.22p |
|
Microwave (standby) (7W) |
0.007 |
0.17p |
|
Phone charger (5W) |
0.005 |
0.12p |
|
PlayStation 5 (standby) (0.36W) |
0.00036 |
0.01p |
|
(1*) kWh (kilowatt hours) are the units used to measure how much power is used by an appliance. It works out as the watt power of an appliance divided by 1,000 (when used for one hour). (2**) Prices based on 1 October 2024 Price Cap rate of 24.5p/kWh and excludes the daily standing charge. |
||
Make sure you control which rooms you heat, so that you're not wasting money heating empty rooms. The Government says you could save around £70 a year turning radiator valves down to between 2.5 and 3 in rooms you don’t use. Do be aware that in some homes, colder rooms could lead to more condensation, which can increase the risk of damp and mould.
Make the most of natural light during the day – open curtains and blinds throughout the house to let the light and heat in. Just remember to close them again as soon it starts to get darker in the evenings.
Most clothes wash just as well at 30°C. You can save around £28 a year by reducing your washing temperature. Also, instead of using the tumble dryer, hang clothes to air dry. This can save around £60 a year. Don’t allow your clothes to dry on your radiators and keep the area around your radiators free of furniture, as you’ll only be blocking the radiator from heating the room and encouraging mould growth.
On average, we spend about four hours a day watching TV. All that viewing uses a lot of energy, but most TVs these days have special settings aimed at making them run as efficiently as possible.
Most have special 'power saving' settings, which will adjust the brightness of your screen to reduce power consumption. If not, you can tinker with the brightness and contrast of your TV yourself – lowering these will help. Some newer TVs also have sensors that can detect how much light is in a room and adjusts the brightness to match, so you're not using more than necessary.
You can also change the picture mode. Most TVs have multiple options, and generally the 'standard' option is the most energy efficient.
Many TV boxes also have an 'eco mode' setting. For example, Sky Q has an eco mode that will power down the box between 2.30am and 5.45am. Others, such as Virgin and BT, have similar settings – look for 'eco' or 'power saving' settings on your device.
Finally, always check if your TV has a sleep timer, which switches the TV off when it has been idle for a set amount of time.
Cutting just a minute off your shower time could save £55 a year in energy bills as you’ll need to heat less hot water each day, according to the Energy Saving Trust. You’ll also save on your water bill if you have a meter.
If your freezer is looking a little frosty, you might want to consider defrosting it. This can improve its efficiency, as the motor doesn't have to work as hard.
Also, a well-stocked freezer retains cold better than an empty one. Generally, freezers work hardest when they're cooling down again after you've opened the door to take something out. All the frozen food in a well-stocked freezer can help with this, preventing it from heating up as much as an empty one when opened, and will help cool down newly added items quicker.
To keep your fridge running at maximum efficiency it's a good idea to give the condenser coils a clean. These are typically found on the back of the fridge and will usually have some kind of grate or cover over them. It's a good idea to turn the fridge off first. Then you'll likely need to pull the fridge away from the wall (if you can) and find a screwdriver to remove the panel covering the coils. Once you see the coils, be sure to clean the dust off gently, to avoid doing any damage.
The average mobile phone can take about three hours to fully charge. So if you're plugging your mobile phone in overnight, you're likely wasting energy.
Instead, top up your mobile's battery throughout the day and always unplug it when fully charged. It's also worth looking at some of your settings, such as screen brightness, battery saving mode and airplane mode – these can all make the charging time much quicker (and the battery last longer). Better still, turn off your phone completely when charging it. The less power your device is using, the quicker the charge time.
If you have the time, batch-cooking meals for the next few days or for the week ahead is the most energy efficient way to cook. You can double or triple portion sizes, or cook multiple different meals at once, freeze anything you don't use, then portion that out over the coming days.
Just remember to defrost each portion in the fridge overnight so you're not using the microwave to defrost food.
To help you get most from your money, we’ve partnered with Citizens Advice to offer you free, confidential and helpful impartial advice. Their friendly team of expert money advisors can help you manage debt, energy costs and teach you skills that can help you care for your overall financial wellbeing. To find out more, visit our myMoney webpage.
Before the energy crisis, switching your energy deal was a great way to cut energy bills, with the recent energy crisis, savings aren't anywhere near what they used to be. Yet deals are returning, and for many, it could now be worth considering switching.
Switching's easy, the only thing that changes is customer service and who bills you. It's the same gas, same electricity, and same safety. Your supply always stays on and no one visits your home unless you want or need smart meters. Following changes to switching rules in 2022, you can now switch in just five working days (or pick a future date for your switch to happen).
To get a bespoke comparison of the top energy deals available to you, use a comparison website, such as Cheap Energy Club, which looks at predicted future prices to help you work out if it's worth switching or not.
You'll need to plug in your address, your current energy supplier and tariff, and how much energy you use in a year (you can grab a recent bill to check this). If you don't know your actual energy use, most comparison sites can estimate for you.
There are small changes that you can make that can have a big impact on how much energy you use. Here are some links to expert advice and handy tips on how you can be more energy savvy.
Before you get started, take a look at our short myth-busting film which will help you sort the facts from the fiction when it comes to energy.
Remember to keep checking our events page for details of when we’re next in your community with our Winter wellbeing events, where you can get face to face advice and pick up your free energy saving pack.
Room heaters are used to heat a small space and are normally portable or fitted to a wall. This handy guide explores what type of heater is best to heat a room, depending on your requirements.
Storage heaters work by charging up overnight when electricity can be cheaper. Inside the storage heater, there are special ceramic bricks that heat up during the low-cost, night-time hours. They then release heat during the day as and when needed, then recharge overnight. Modern, digital models deliver control and convenience, helping to heat your home in a way that fits your lifestyle so you can avoid wasting heat or energy.
We’ve worked in partnership with Kate Simpson at Imperial College London as part of the Warm and Well Project to create a ‘Getting the most out of your storage heater’ video. This useful video has been co-created using insight from others living in Orbit homes, to help you understand how to use storage heaters in the best way, to help you spend less and enjoy more warmth.
We know that because storage heaters work in a different way to a standard central heating system, they can take a bit of time to understand and adjust to. This is why we have created a guide to explain how storage heaters work in simple terms.
It contains information about how storage heaters work, plus how to set the controls, timer and temperature. We’ve also included some money-saving tips and information about Economy 7 tariffs. The guide has links to other sources for further information and support.
We hope you find it useful.
If you have a Dimplex Quantum storage heater, here’s a guide to help you make sure you’re using it efficiently.
Smart meters are modern gas and electricity meters designed to give you more information about your energy use and make topping up more convenient. Learn more here.
A look at the pros and cons of having a prepayment meter for your gas or electricity, including costs, convenience, standing charge and other issues. This guide can help you decide what’s best for you.
Damp can cause mould on walls and furniture and cause wooden window frames to rot. It can also be a danger to your health. Find out more here.
Condensation is common in many homes, particularly during the colder winter months. It is usually very manageable. Condensation and damp left unchecked can lead to wider issues, including mould growth. You can find a range of advice on our dedicated webpage here , including tips to reduce condensation in your home. You can also find information about how we address cases of mould growth. If you still need assistance after reviewing the information below, please use this form to report damp or mould to us so that we can investigate and agree a way forward - https://www.orbitcustomerhub.org.uk/contact-us/report-damp-mould/.
We are committed to providing high quality, safe and sustainable homes as well as investing for a low carbon future.
The Government has set an ambitious target of reaching net zero carbon by 2050 and if we are to achieve this, we all have a part to play in reducing the impact our homes and lifestyles have on the environment.
Many of our homes are already very much at the heart of this commitment, especially those with solar technology. Solar electricity panels, also known as photovoltaics (PV), capture the sun’s energy and convert it into renewable electricity that you can use in your home.
There are many benefits to solar panels. Read our ‘Maximising the benefits of solar panels’ guide for a quick overview of the technology and some of the frequently asked questions about how it works.
The Centre for Sustainable Energy
The Centre for Sustainable Energy has plenty of additional guides you can read to learn more about how to best maximise energy efficiency in your home. Just visit their website.
Don’t forget, we’re here to support you too. Just get in touch via our contact form or visit our Better Days help and support pages.
