HOUSEHOLDS could see a drop in their energy bills within the next few weeks as the new energy price cap comes into effect.
Bills will drop by £426 a year on average from July, after Ofgem dropped its price cap.
The cost of running your appliances will change from July 1
It was announced in May that the energy price cap will fall to £2,074 from £3,280, due to tumbling wholesale prices.
The energy price cap limits the amount typical households pay for fuel bills – although the more you use, the more you pay.
Last year, the government stepped in to stop bills rocketing to over £4,000 under the price cap.
It introduced the Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) to limit the average bill to £2,500 but this will end on July 1.
But with the new price cap, what does that mean for the cost of running household appliances?
The Sun spoke to comparison website Uswitch and its data revealed how much you’ll be paying next month.
Of course, the cost of running appliances can vary depending on their wattage.
So, what will you pay and how does it compare to the current cost?
Bathroom – save £15 a year
The cost of running a shower for ten minutes under the EPG is 41.3p.
So having a shower every day would cost you around £150 a year.
From July 1, it will cost you 37.5p for a ten-minute shower – or £135 a year.
This is a saving of £15 over the course of a year.
Living room – save £6 a year
Watching television for an hour currently costs you around 3.2p under the EPG.
But from July 1, this will drop to 2.9p.
So if you watched the television for three hours a day for a year, this would save you around £3.29.
The cost of playing a games console will also fall from next month.
It currently costs around 6.6p to run one of these gadgets for an hour.
One hour of game play every day for a year would add £24.09 to your energy bill at the current level.
This will fall to £21.09 from July 1 – a saving of £3.
Kitchen – Save £26 a year
The cost to boil a kettle of water for five minutes will fall to 7.5p from 8.3p.
So if you’re a keen tea drinker and you boil the kettle three times a day, every day, this will save you £8.72.
A washing machine costs 23.1p to run for an hour currently.
To do three loads of laundry a week for a whole year costs around £35.88.
The cost of running the machine will fall to 21p from July 1, saving the average household around £32.76. This is a difference of £3.12.
On top of that, a microwave will cost you 4p for ten minutes of use under the new energy price cap.
Over the course of a year, this could add up to £14.60 if you used it every day for a year. This is a saving of £1.46.
Using your oven currently costs 20.8p for an hour’s use, but this will fall to 18.9p from July 1. This is an annual saving of up to £6.93.
While air fryers are known for being less energy-intensive than an oven, they can be quite costly depending on their wattage.
A 1.4kw air fryer currently costs 46.2p for an hour’s use. This will soon fall to 42p. This could save a household around £6.24.
Bedroom – save £1.50
Using a bedside light for an hour currently costs you 0.5p – but this will fall to 0.4p – a saving of 36p over the course of a year.
If you also have a television in your bedroom, you could save £1.10 a year if you watched an hour before bed every night for a year.
How else can I save on energy bills?
There are plenty of ways to reduce your energy bill and some of them are pretty simple.
Summer is a good time to think about ditching your tumble dryer and using a washing line instead.
It will make a welcome change not to have to crank up the heating every time we need to dry our clothes.
And always think about how much money you’re spending on household appliances – the kettle is ranked one of the costliest, after the shower, heating and a fan-assisted oven.
You can read about how much they cost and how to keep prices down in our guides – like this one.
Also, Energy Saving Trust estimates that between 9-16% of electricity used in homes is through appliances in standby mode.
On a bill of £500, this could account for as much as £80. We’ve rounded up the worst devices to leave on standby.
And remember installing a smart meter is free and usually provided by your energy supplier.
They keep a real-time record of your energy consumption so you can keep an eye on what you’re using.
Meanwhile, we reveal the best way to use gadgets like air fryers and microwaves.
Plus, you’ve been cooking your dinner all wrong and it’s adding to your energy bills.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]