Annoyed about your energy bill increasing?
Running out of sweaters and blankets to layer?
Feeling like there’s nothing you can do to change that?
Most of us are feeling the impact of increasing energy prices, our wallets even more so. You might think that you have no power over how to save energy at home, and that there’s little you can do to reduce your bills. If you’re not familiar with smart technology, now is the perfect time to find out how it can immediately reduce your energy bills. Smart lighting and heating lets you monitor your home’s energy consumption and be able to automate it to be as efficient as possible. One of our users has saved £45 off his monthly energy bill with two simple tricks. Read on to find out just how he did it.
Meet Will
A family man with two kids, a dog named Pumba, and a personal vendetta against his ever-increasing energy bills. Will likes to keep his 3-bed, mid-terraced home cosy for his family but at the same time, he ensures that energy isn’t carelessly used. In addition to saving some of his hard-earned moolah, Will is also trying to teach his kids how to minimise their impact on the planet as they grow up and, generally, how to save energy at home. Investing in smart home technology has made it easier for Will to make his home more sustainable, as he can monitor which devices cost him the most to run and reduce his energy use without sacrificing comfort.
Trick 1 – Brightness Limiters with Smart Lighting
Will has Lightwave Smart Dimmers in the kitchen, lounge, porch, utility room, toilet, all bedrooms and the upstairs landing. Within the Lightwave app, Will only had to spend a few minutes on a typically rainy Sunday afternoon building automations to act as brightness limiters. Depending on the number of dimmable LEDs in each room, Will set each dimmer to limit the bulbs to either 65% or 70% brightness instead of 100%.
There is barely any visible difference between 100% and 65% brightness, Will has even let us know that his family haven’t noticed any difference to how bright the house is. This small adjustment to his home’s lighting system has resulted in Will using about a third less energy in February as he did in the three months prior. Below you can see the ‘If-Do’ brightness limiter automations Will has set up in his Lightwave app:
Trick 2 – Smart(er) Heating
For smart heating devices, Will only has a thermostat in the lounge (Honeywell Home Wireless Thermostat) and a Lightwave Smart Heating Switch controlling his boiler, meaning that this money-saving method is very attainable. Within his Lightwave app, Will has tweaked his existing heating schedule so that it switches off an hour earlier each night, (10pm instead of 11pm) and he also dropped the target temperatures by just 1°C, from 15°C to 14°C for bedtime and when the house is vacant, and 19.5°C to 18.5°C during the morning and evening. You can do the same in your Lightwave app in a few minutes, just add an automation (or a few) to your heating schedule. Here’s how Will’s heating is set-up in the Lightwave app:
To gain even greater autonomy over his home, Will plans to invest in the Honeywell Home Wireless Radiator Valves so he can smartly control each individual radiator in his home. This will save Will even more money as he’ll be able to make sure rooms are only heated when they’re normally occupied.
Will’s Results
| Statement Date | Electricity Used | Cost | Gas Used | Cost | TOTAL |
| 1 Oct – 31 Oct ‘21 | 370.6 kWh | £84.05 | 444.6 kWh | £26.14 | £110.19 |
| 1 Nov – 30 Nov ‘21 | 360.8 kWh | £81.78 | 1079.6kWh | £51.78 | £133.56 |
| 1 Dec – 31 Dec ‘21 | 380.2 kWh | £85.77 | 1260.5 kWh | £58.57 | £144.34 |
| 1 Jan – 31 Jan ‘22 | 366.0 kWh | £83.35 | 1661.7 kWh | £75.85 | £159.20 |
| 1 Feb – 28 Feb ‘22 | 281.0 kWh | £64.35 | 1074.2 kWh | £50.25 | £114.60 |
From Jan to Feb, Will saved £44.60 – £19.00 in Electricity and £25.60 in Gas
Will says he’s chuffed at the money he was able to save, and has been incredibly impressed by the versatility and control that his Lightwave system provides. He’s going continue to save energy at home and put the extra money toward a memorable family trip to Legoland this spring, so that’s money well spent in our opinion!