Benefits
- Reduce your energy consumption
- Lower your energy bills
- Manage your electric appliances
What should I look for when choosing appliances?
When you’re buying a new appliance for your home, look for its energy label. The energy label tells you how much energy that appliance uses, comparing it to similar appliances. This can help you find appliances that use the least amount of energy.
You should also consider the size of the appliance you need. Only buy the size you need, as larger items will use more energy and end up costing you more. For example, you buy a family-sized dishwasher but never manage to fill it with dirty dishes each time you use it. You may be wasting energy and therefore money on your electricity bills.
How do energy labels work?
Appliances are tested for how much energy they use during typical use. This gives them a rating on a scale of A to G, with A being the most efficient product of its class, and G being the least efficient. Some appliances (e.g. ovens) use an older scale, from A+++ to G, with A+++ being the most efficient.
In general, energy ratings are categorised by the product’s size. This means that two appliances with the same energy rating might use different amounts of electricity if they’re different sizes.
For instance, a G-rated 265-litre fridge freezer could cost around £85 (65kgCO₂e) a year to run. But a larger 424-litre fridge freezer with a better F rating could cost around £90 (70kgCO₂e) a year to run.
It’s best to check the appliance’s energy label, and look for the product with the best energy rating for the size you require.
Reduce your energy consumption
How and when you use your home appliances can affect how much energy they use. For example, wet appliances such as dishwashers and washing machines typically account for 10% of a household’s energy bills.
If you want to reduce your energy use here, you can:
- use these appliance less frequently.
- wash at lower temperatures.
- Avoiding half loads.
For more information, we have more tips on how to save energy whenusing your washing machine.
Avoid leaving appliances on standby
The average UK household spends £55 (45kgCO₂e) a year powering appliances left on standby .
Standby is the energy used by certain appliances when not in use and not switched off at the plug. As well as standby power, other new additions to the average household’s collection of electrical goods use low levels of electricity when not in use. These include:
- broadband modems
- broadband routers
- smart speakers
- digiboxes
- telephones
We tend not to think to switch these off, but as they’re often on for 24 hours a day, these appliances gradually consume a great deal of electricity.
Fortunately there are several products available to help cut down your standby electricity consumption. These include standby savers that let you turn all your appliances off standby in one go. Some come with timers and others come with a single off-switch.
EU regulations specify that non-networked electrical devices sold after 2013 can’t have a standby power greater than 0.5W. But with many households using more electronic gadgets, it’s worth looking at your standby usage.
Key considerations for common appliances
Find out more about common appliances for the home and helpful tips to help you save money, energy and carbon emissions when choosing a new appliance.
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The highest rated gas and electric ovens are A+++.
A fan-assisted oven is more energy efficient as it helps cook at lower temperatures by circulating the air around the food, while electric hobs are more efficient than gas rings. Look for an oven with a triple-glazed door, as this will keep the heat in and cook food quicker.
Ovens with a pyrolytic ‘self-cleaning’ function can be an energy intensive means of cleaning, which can contribute to higher running costs. This has the oven reach a high temperature to burn off baked-in residue to make cleaning easier.
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Microwave ovens can provide a more energy efficient way to cook your food than in the oven. Unlike ovens, microwaves only heat your food and not the air space inside, which means they use less energy to cook your dinner.
Microwaves don’t feature an energy label, so comparing the energy efficiency of different models isn’t as straightforward. However, the power rating of a microwave can show you which models use more energy than others.
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Almost 8% of our electricity bill is spent running the dishwasher, typically costing between £40 to £80 (35 to 65kgCO₂e) a year to run a standard sized dishwasher. Slimline dishwashers, however, typically cost between £30 to £65 (25 to 50kgCO₂e) a year to run.
The most efficient dishwashers on the market have an A rating, and cost around £30 less per year (20kgCO₂e) to run than the lowest rated dishwashers of the same size, and they use less water.
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These are switched on 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They’re some of the longest lasting appliances in our homes, so it’s worth finding energy efficient models.
Energy label scales range from A to G, and choosing a higher rated fridge freezer can have a significant impact on your running costs. Choosing a A-rated fridge freezer over a F-rated unit will save you about £610 (610kgCO₂e) in energy bills over the 17-year lifetime of the product.
However, as the energy rating is categorised by size, choosing a smaller fridge will use less energy than a larger fridge with the same energy rating, and may even use less than a higher rated one. You can compare the total energy consumption of appliances by looking for their yearly energy consumption in kWh/annum (this is displayed under the rating scale on the energy label).
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Kettles are one of the most used appliances in the kitchen. A 2021 UK Government study found nearly three quarters of us admit that we at least occasionally boil the kettle with more water than we’re going to use.
Buying an ECO kettle that only boils the amount of water required can use 20% less energy than a conventional electric kettle, or just avoid overfilling and save yourself £11 a year on your electricity bill (9kgCO₂e).
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Drying clothes outdoors on a washing line costs nothing and uses no energy, so it’s the ideal way to dry your clothes. Indoors on a rack can also be a no-cost, no-energy solution, although you should be mindful of the increased risk of condensation. Keep the room ventilated so that that moisture doesn’t turn into damp.
Tumble dryers use an energy label scale of A+++ to D. Choosing an A+++ rated one over a B-rated could save you around £830 (820kgCO₂e) over its 13-year lifetime.
If you need a tumble dryer, look for one that has a sensor to alert you when your clothes are dry enough. This will prevent you from wasting energy by over drying your laundry.
Electric heat pump tumble dryers are more efficient again. These recycle the heat from the ventilation tube back into the dryer after removing water vapour from the air.
There are also gas tumble dryers. This type of dryer can be slightly more expensive to install, as it needs a gas connection.
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An energy efficient washing machine will save you money on your electricity bill and your water bill (if you have a meter).
Washing machines use an energy label scale of A to G. Choosing an A-rated washing machine over a D-rated one could save you around £110 (105kgCO₂e) over its 11-year lifetime.
Try to wash only when you have enough laundry for a full load, and at lower temperatures, to maximise your savings.
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With home working now the norm, many of us will be sitting in front of a desktop or laptop five days a week.
Laptops typically use 85% less electricity over a year than desktop PCs. Choosing a laptop over a desktop and avoiding leaving the laptop in standby could save up to £35 (30kgCO₂e) per year.
Tablets have even lower energy usage: tablets use 70% less power than laptops, on average.
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Smart speakers generally cost around £5 (5kgCO₂e) per year to run, with most of that cost from running them on standby. It’s worth considering whether you do need them on 24 hours a day. Our testing of the Amazon Echo and Dot revealed lower power usage than expected, with only slightly more energy being used when activated by voice from standby.
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Televisions can be the most power-hungry of all entertainment equipment, particularly the largest ones. The larger a television screen, the more energy it will consume, regardless of its energy rating.
The following table includes examples of annual running costs depending on the size of your TV, as well as the CO₂ equivalent saving:
Running costs per year
32” TV
40” TV
60” TV
F
£20 (15kgCO₂e)
£25 (20kgCO₂e)
£50 (40kgCO₂e)
G
£30 (25kgCO₂e)
£40 (35kgCO₂e)
£80 (65kgCO₂e)
In our cost comparison table, even the most efficient 60” television is still more expensive to run per year against the lowest rated 32” television. By choosing a smaller television, you’re generally saving more energy.
LED screens are the most common form of flat-screen TV on the market. LED TVs use an LCD (liquid crystal display) and LEDs provide the backlighting to create the picture.
OLED and QLEDs are similar to LED screens in that they both use an LCD display. The difference with OLED and QLED is that you don’t require backlighting – each pixel lights itself. Both types boast high performance in picture quality, but these do come at an added cost.
Power consumption is mostly dependent on level of brightness and hours of use.
After selecting the smallest TV still suitable, the best ways to save energy are to:
- reduce your brightness settings to your lowest acceptable limit.
- switch off your TV when not in use.
Many TVs incorporate features to do this automatically, such as light sensors to detect the room’s brightness and adjust the screen accordingly, and sleep timers to switch off the TV after a number of hours of no interaction.
Plasma TV production ended in 2015. And since 2014, lamp lit LCDs (as opposed to LED lit) are in limited production. Both of these TVs use more power than LEDs.
What should I do with my old appliances?
You should dispose of electrical items carefully due to the nature of their materials.
If you have an appliance that has the image of a wheelie bin with a cross on it, don’t put it with the general household rubbish collection. These items include large white goods and energy saving lightbulbs.
By keeping waste electrical equipment separate from other waste, the hazardous substances can be removed and other parts can be recycled rather than sent to landfill.
If you’re buying new electrical appliances, the law obligates retailers to either:
- take your old appliances off you for free in store.
- tell you where you can take your old item for recycling free of charge.
Many retailers offer collection of old appliances from your home, although they’re not obliged to do this.
Alternatively, you can take your old equipment to your nearest recycling point, or ask your local authority to collect your bulky items. Some may charge for this service.
