Sign up
Menu
Log in Sign up

You’ve got your power sorted with the company of your choice – seems like a ‘job done’ right? For many people it is, BUT with a bit of research and a few conversations, you could end up spending less on energy each month. You could be enjoying better value from your power company with these quick and easy tips below.

Choose the right plan for your own usage needs

You should shop around different plans on offer that might suit your household’s power usage habits and needs. These plans might exist within the same company or across different retailers.

Here’s an example: more recent plans being offered, such as Electric Vehicle plans, can help ensure the way your charges are structured best reflect the most common usage patterns of your home. 

It’s always good to get estimates of your address, to get a more accurate idea of what a certain plan may cost. This includes Low and Standard user plans.

Make the most of your account dashboard

There’s so much you can learn from checking out your usage data in your power account. At Powershop, we show usage levels across the month and day which makes it easier to work out where the spikes are occurring - not that we’re pointing any fingers! We’ll leave that bit up to you. 

Actively monitoring your usage over the month can help you change your usage behaviours. Maybe you do your washing loads during off-peak and simply, cut unnecessary habits, like an epic 30 minute shower or leaving the oven to preheat for an hour. Without this information, it’s hard to really know where to start with power saving – usage dashboards make this much easier. 

Use energy hungry appliances during off-peak times

When you know the peak and off-peak times and do a bit of forward planning, you can get better value from your power company and plan with reduced running costs of normally pricey appliances. It doesn’t take long to get used to a new routine and your wallet will thank you!

Some power-hungry activities to move into off peak include:

  • running the washing machine
  • clothes tumble dryer
  • oven for meal prep
  • hot showers
  • dishwashers.

Each household and lifestyle will have different levels of control over when they use these appliances, but even just moving a few of these energy-zapping activities to cheaper off-peak times can make a noticeable dent in your monthly bill.

Get onto a time of use (TOU) plan

If you can move most of your high power usage to off-peak times, you might benefit from a time of use plan (at Powershop we call this Get Shifty). With a time of use plan, typically you’ll pay less in the off-peak and more during peak - so if you stick to your new habits, you may be able to get more value from your energy company. 

Use Powerpacks or other savings deals

Each retailer is a bit different in terms of promotions, deals, savings and other offerings to put more control in your hands as the consumer. What makes Powershop unique is the ability to buy Powerpacks from our Shop - this means pre-purchasing units of power at a certain price that will be used later on. Buying some of your power this way can be a great way to save in the long run, as you’re taking advantage of cheaper prices as they come up.

Get smart with your household’s energy usage

The best savings your household can make start with energy conscious habits. Combined with the best plan and time of day pricing, careful power usage can free up plenty of budget for other stuff. 

Some of the most effective ways to save power quickly include:

  • Cooking enough for multiple nights’ meals removing the need to cook every night.
  • Reducing the cooking and pre-heating times of your oven to only what’s required. Your oven may have a light to indicate when it’s reached the set temperature.
  • Keeping showers to 5 minutes max.
  • Running heat pumps or other heaters to keep the room at a comfortable but not excessively hot temperature.
  • Closing off parts of the home that don’t need to be heated, so it’s easier to maintain a warm temperature.
  • Keeping your home clean and dry reduces the need for heating.
  • Drying clothes outside in natural sunlight (weather permitting!).

These are just a few of popular energy saving tactics - head over to our Saving Electricity guide for more information.

More tips on comparing power companies

Want to see who might give you the best value? Check out our resource on comparing retailers. 

Learn how much you could save with Powershop

You can upload a bill to Powershop and we can give you a savings estimate to find out how much you could be saving with us. If you want more power saving tips, head over to our full guide.

Next article