How to Save Energy When You Go on Holiday

There is nothing worse than coming back from holiday to a large utilities bill, caused by leaving appliances on or even water damage. It’s important to make a checklist before you go away to maximise your savings, and therefore have more money for souvenirs and ice creams on the beach. This guide will take you through the essentials of saving on your energy bill whilst you are away from home, and more generally about saving money on your energy usage. 

The last thing you need when coming back from a relaxing time away is for your house to be flooded with water damage. This doesn’t just happen in the winter and can be caused by a variety of reasons such as badly connected washing machines. Turning off your water is relatively easy to do but is rarely done by holidaymakers. All you have to do is turn the stopcock valve, usually located underneath your kitchen sink, into the closed position. It could also be located in your airing cupboard if you can’t find it straight away. 

Before you go on holiday, you might think the best thing to do is to leave the lights on to make it look like someone is at home. However, you don’t have to be the smartest burglar in the world to work out that lights left on 24/7 is only really done by people that have gone away. A good idea in this case would be to buy a set of timers to turn your lights on at specific points in the day, to make it look lived-in. More generally, investing in a set of energy-saving bulbs will save you a lot on energy bills. 

Possibly the most simple and effective, but often overlooked way of saving on your energy bills whilst you are away. Drawing all of your curtains, and closing your winter shutters, helps to keep the heat in during the winter and cool during the summer. Doors will act in the same way so it’s important to close these as well. 

If you go away during the summer months, it would be smart idea to turn your heating off as you most likely wouldn’t have it on when you are there anyway. However, in the winter it’s probably not worth the risk of your pipes freezing, or even bursting because of the cold. What you can do is set timers on your boiler so that it keeps the pipes ticking over for a few hours a day. Longer term you can invest in smart technology which will allow you to control your energy remotely from your phone. 

Before you leave on holiday you will most likely empty your fridge, so you don’t have food that goes off while you are away. If you are leaving for an extended period it might be worth turning the temperature down on your fridge and freezer, or even off completely if it’s empty. A freezer uses less energy when it is full, so a smart idea would be to fill it up with bowls of water until they freeze and then turn your temperature slightly up. It will remain cold enough, but also stop using as much energy. 

An absolute essential for any holidaymaker is to turn off all your appliances and even fully unplug them. Why would your TV need to be on standby when you will not be home? However, it’s not just the big appliances, even small ones can add up and should be turned off as well. This means all of your speakers, electric razors, and chargers need to be unplugged or turned off. This tip is actually useful for day to day energy savings too. You can even invest in a remote control which will turn off all of your appliances in one fell swoop when you are asleep or out of the house.