Everyone is worried about rising energy costs, and according to You Gov polling, six out of ten Brits say they need to cut other spending to pay for them. At the same time, only half of us understand how our energy bills are calculated.
Mike Harris from Ovenrescue.co.uk took a close look at the costs of cooking, and reveals there’s one thing you can do today to actually save money on rising fuel bills.
Mike said: "There are three things that make up your bills for cooking – energy, cooking time/temperature, and the efficiency of your oven. A dirty oven is a surefire way to increase energy consumption further as it can use 10% more energy. With an increase in energy prices in October, this translates to £31 a year when using your oven for an average of one hour a day.
“There’s not that much any of us can do about energy prices”, says Mike “because every supplier is ramping up their charges. You could use your oven less, but you still have to cook for yourself and your family. And if you’re baking, roasting or just heating up a pizza or some lasagne, you need your oven. When it comes to efficiency, you could invest in a new, more efficient model, but that will put a sizeable dent in the household budget."
Mike adds: “What you can do right now is to make your cooker more efficient, is keep it clean. A dirty oven could be adding 10% or more to the amount of energy you use. With massive increases in energy prices, that means you actually make money by having your oven cleaned.”
Mike added: "Dirty ovens are a fire risk, fill your kitchen with bad smells and can affect how your food tastes. But if those aren't reason enough to scrub it regularly, all that grease reduces the efficiency as it will take longer to cook your food. This will waste energy and see your energy bills increase. You should also consider the danger of following cooking times for things like meat, if the oven isn't accurate because it's dirty, then you risk undercooked food."
Mike said: "A good sign your oven needs a thorough clean is firstly if you have to open the door to check on the food, because the glass is so dirty, and at the same time when you do open the door, the kitchen fills with smoke. This is likely to be from the burning of old food and spillages. These smoke particles are not good for your health either."
How much does it cost to use your cooker?
The cost of cooking comes from:
- The price you pay for energy
- The length of time you use your oven
- Your cooker’s energy efficiency
Even if your cooker has a top A rating, it’s likely to burn through 2500 watts every hour. If it’s an old cooker at the bottom end of the energy scale, it could use twice as much.
We all know that energy prices are rocketing. The government’s energy price cap sets the maximum price energy companies can charge in kilowatts per hour (kWh). For a decade, prices have been rising at an average of 5% a year.
In April 2022 electricity went up to 28p per kWh and gas to 7.3p. Despite the government's energy price cap, in October 2022 there’s another hike with electricity going up to 34p and gas to 10.3p.
If you use your electric oven for an average of an hour every day, that’s 365 hours. In October, the cost jumps up from £255 to £310.
For gas cookers, the annual costs are likely to go up from £65 in April 2022 to £94 in October.
How much does it cost to cook the Sunday roast?
One hour and 30 minutes to cook a roast dinner for the family. If your electric oven runs at 2500 watts, and your energy costs you 28p per kWh, the cost is 1.5 x 2.5 x 28, or £1.05. In October that goes up by 21% to £1.27.
A hob uses a lot of energy too, especially electric hobs. And so does every electric appliance in the house, as well, naturally, as your gas boiler. On top of the energy you use, you also have to foot the bill for daily standing charges. So any saving you can make on cooking has to be good news.
