If you’re looking for ways to keep your energy bill down, you might be wondering whether it’s best to use an electric heater or radiator.
The energy regulator Ofgem has just brought in a huge hike to its price cap, which limits how much households can be charged for each unit of gas and electricity they use.
For those on a default tariff who pay by direct debit, the price cap has gone up from £1,277 to £1,971 - a rise of £693.
Prepayment customers have seen a bigger jump, with their price cap going up by £708, from £1,309 to £2,017.
As prices soar, we speak to energy experts at Uswitch.com to explain whether you're better off heating your home with an electric heater or your gas radiators.
Is it cheaper to use an electric heater or gas radiators?
Sarah Broomfield, energy expert at Uswitch.com, told The Mirror that in general, an electric heater is an expensive way to heat your home.
However, there may be times when it is cheaper to run an electric heater.
For example, if you're only heating one room for a short period of time and the rest of your central heating is turned off.
Are you worried about affording your bills? Let us know: mirror.money.saving@mirror.co.uk
“An average 2kW electric heater will cost you £1.12 to run for two hours," she said.
“Radiators running off a gas boiler are a cheaper way to heat your home in general.
“The only instance where it may be cheaper to use an electric heater is if you’re only warming a single room, and can switch off your central heating entirely.”
We've also looked into whether you're better off using a microwave or regular oven when cooking, to keep your costs down.
It is generally much more energy efficient to use a microwave, compared to using an oven.
This is also according to Uswitch, which found cooking a baked potato in the oven would cost around 27p compared to 3p in the microwave.
For this comparison, Uswitch looked at an oven that uses 0.97kW of power, versus a microwave that uses 0.8Kw.
But as well as using less energy to begin with, you typically use a microwave for much less - so for a baked potato, this could take one hour in the oven, whereas a microwave could only take seven minutes.
And when it comes to water bills, we've analysed whether you're better off having a bath or shower.
To save the most cash, the answer is to have a short shower as this will use less water.
The average water bill will rise as high as £420 this year, with the number of people that need help paying this expected to rise from 1.1million to 1.4million.
