The annual cost of taking a hot bath will rise by almost 90% to £1,023 a year over the next 12 months due to the rising cost of gas and electricity.
This is according to research by Yorkshire Water, which found heating a bath was the “most expensive” domestic use of water.
Its “Teapot Index” analysis found the cost of heating water was around £542.88 in 2022, up from £303.70 the year before.
Yorkshire Water says the average Brit has three baths a week, but reducing this to one bath a week could save up to £361.92.
Switching from having three baths to five showers every week could see households make savings of up to £189.28 a year.
Yorkshire Waters Teapot Index reports the second most expensive use of water was heating the dishwasher which cost around £326.22 to run last year up from £132.68 in 2021, and then the washing machine which cost £222.77 to run in 2022.
Yorkshire Water says this was an annual increase of 95% from the year before.
The cost to make a cup of tea also increased significantly last year due to the high costs of energy, with Yorkshire Water reporting an annual cost of £18.69 to boil the kettle in 2022 compared to £10.37 in 2021.
The water company warned that costs are only set to increase more due to the cost of energy predicting prices will go up by an average of 18% throughout the next year.
Emily Brady, of Yorkshire Water, said: “Managing water use in the home is a great way to keep bills down. The environmental benefits to saving water are well known, but there are also great cost savings to reducing your usage – especially when it comes to heating water.”
Alongside its release, Yorkshire Water has issued suggestions of ways you can cut your water use as save a little bit of money as costs rise over the next year.
It said even the "small changes" could potentially save households around £700 a year on energy bills.
Yorkshire Waters advises people to have a four-minute shower instead of an eight-minute one,
As the average household has 756 showers a year, if they are all eight minutes long, then it could be costing around £256.36 a year.
By cutting back, it saves households could save an average of £128.18 on showers a year as they are not heating large amounts of water
It also advises households to make sure that both their washing machine and dishwasher are full before they put a load on as it costs 47.6p and 91p a load respectively.
The average UK family of four does eight to ten loads of laundry a week and if they are all only half or two-thirds full it could be wasting a significant amount of money.
If this number is cut down to between four and seven loads, it could potentially save you anywhere from £66.01 up to £123.76 a year as they are using less energy
How much it costs to run appliances
According to Yorkshire Water:
- Boil a full kettle - 1.28p cost per single-use - £18.69 annually (based on boiling kettle x4 times per day)
- Shower - 34p - cost per single-use - £256.36 annually (based on 14.5 eight minute showers per week per family of four)
- A load of laundry - 47.6p cost per single-use - £222.77 annually (based on nine loads per week)
- Dishwasher load - 91p cost per single-use - £236.60 annually (based on five loads per week)
- Running a bath - 87p cost per single-use - £542.88 annually (based on three baths per week)
- Washing a car - 52p cost per single-use - £15.14 (based on bi-weekly car washes)
