One mum has managed to shift nearly £1,700 worth of energy debt in under a year by simply changing her energy consumption habits.
Heidi, 51, a project manager from Plymouth told the Sun she was shocked when she received the final energy bill from her old supplier Powershop after it went bust.
When E.ON Next took over Powershop customers in April 2022, Heidi was told by her new supplier that she needed to pay the entire energy debt back.
"It was a shock, as I had always paid my direct debit, and I was never told there was a problem," she said.
"I challenged the bill but E.ON said it was right - I felt sick and horrified at the thought of paying that back alongside my bill, which had gone up too."
Determined to settle the debt, Heidi and her family, which consists of her husband Dave, 42, and her two kids Archie, 15, and Daisy, 13, started to slash their energy usage and in just eight months the majority of the debt has been paid off.
Heidi added: "Now I owe £355 and by April I should be able to close the deficit - it's a relief, especially knowing that bills are going to go up again in April.”
Heidi told the Sun that she managed to cut the debt by cutting her energy use in four key areas.
Used the washing machine less
Heidi first cut down on the number of washes she was doing each week, before the £1,700 bill, she was putting on two loads of washing every day with some of the clothes and towels only having been used once.
This has now changed, with the family of four reducing their washing loads down to only four a week.
Heidi told the Sun that her family's clothes will be worn multiple times before being put in the wash basket with towels only going in once a week.
She also uses an antibacterial special spray to make their clothes stay fresher, and cleaner, for longer.
Alongside the savings she is making on her energy bill, Heidi also said she has seen a massive reduction in her water bill too.
She added: "My water bill was £98 a month, and I've reduced this to £60 a month.”
Cut out the tumble dryer
It is now common knowledge that the tumblr dryer costs a small fortune to run, and before her bill, Heidi was using the tumblr dryer sometimes twice a day.
Based on this usage, Heidi was, on average, spending a whopping £5.74 a week or £22.96 per month drying her clothes.
Heidi has now completely cut the tumble dryer out of her laundry routine in favour of airdrying her family’s clothes.
She said: "I find that hanging clothes up in front of the window is better if it’s a sunny day.
“When I’m desperate I’ll use the heated-airer - but that uses electric, which costs money, so I'll try to avoid it."
Ditched the oven
Not only has Heidi cut out the tumble dryer, but she also does not use her oven anymore and instead opts to batch cook meals in a slow cook or an air fryer.
Heidi explained: "I plan my meals around the appliances and how I’ll cook them, I like to batch cook meals in my slow cooker and microwave them over the next three days. "
The oven is another household appliance which takes a lot of energy to run and a typical 2,100W oven can cost around 71p for each hour it is on.
Slow cookers and air fryers have become unsung heroes of the energy crisis as they cost significantly less to run than a conventional oven.
According to uSwitch, slow cookers cost around 11p an hour to run, while air fryers cost between 13.6p and 23.8p for 30 minutes.
Switched off the heating
Many have made the decision to not switch their heating on this winter, and Heidi was one of them.
She instead used electric blankets, a halogen heater, and thermals to keep her and her family warm through the winter months.
She said: “I put electric blankets on all our beds - we put them on before bed to warm us up", she said.
"We have thermal layers we wear from Primark and hot water bottles.
"We have a halogen plug-in heater, and I put it on for six minutes in the morning in the kids' bedrooms to get them up and moving.
"We stay on top of mould by using a dehumidifier, which is cheaper than putting the heating on."
According to data from uSwitch, using an electric blanket for one hour a day, every day of the week for a year, would cost you £12.48 in total whilst some halogen heaters cost 18p an hour to run.
uSwitch says a dehumidifier, on average, could cost you around £19.24 a year if run for around half an hour each day.
