The energy crisis means we’re all looking for ways to lower our bills - and one place to start is in the kitchen.
The best way to use your kettle is to only fill it up with as much water as you need, but many of us are guilty of not sticking to this rule.
Energy experts at Uswitch say it costs around 1p to boil just one cup of tea or coffee, assuming you have a 3kwh kettle that takes one minute to boil.
However, if five times as much water is used, and assuming it then takes five minutes to boil, it would cost 7p.
This means, if you boiled the kettle four times a day, you’re potentially wasting 6p each time - or 24p per day.
Spread out over each day of the year, and this is a wasted cost of £87.60.
Of course, the exact amount wasted does depend on the power rating of your kettle, how many times a day you’re using it, and if you fill it up to the max each time.
Justina Miltienyte, head of policy at Uswitch.com, said: “The more water you put in a kettle, the longer it takes for it to get up to temperature.
“That means that filling it up with more water than you need is going to be using much more energy.
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“Although the savings you make by filling your kettle up with just enough water for each drink only represent a few pence, this all adds up over the course of a year.”
The advice from Uswitch comes as energy bills skyrocketed for millions of homes, following a huge £700 increase to the Ofgem price cap.
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.
The price cap limits how much households can be charged for each unit of gas and electricity they use.
For other ways to lower your bills, we've looked at whether it is cheaper to use an electric heater or gas radiators.
In general, an electric heater is an expensive way to heat your home and you're normally better off using your radiators.
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.
We've also looked into whether you're better off using a microwave or regular oven when cooking, to keep your costs down.
Cooking a baked potato in the oven would cost around 27p compared to 3p in the microwave.
