Reduce Your Gas Usage at Home
With cost-of-living pressures, many of us are looking for ways to reduce our expenses. If you have gas in your home, you may find some of these gas saving tips helpful in assisting you reduce your bills.
Gas usage in the home, is usually related to a few main appliances in your home. This could be your heaters, ovens and stoves and hot water systems. These tips focus on these main appliances to cut down your gas usage.
Heating
If you have gas heating in your home, here are some tips to keep the costs down:
- One of the best ways to reduce your gas usage during the cooler months is to trap the warm air. Close doors to unused rooms and draw your curtains to block radiant heat loss. If you have ducted heating, use the zoning function, to limit the rooms that are heated.
- When running your heater, be sure to set the thermostat between 18 and 20 degrees Celsius. Each degree over that uses about 10% more energy.
- Save money by fitting draught seals to the openings of external windows and doors to stop warm air escaping. Draught snakes are a great low-cost investment for stopping the heat from seeping out beneath front and back doors.
- Rugs on bare floors help insulate living areas
- Turn your heater off or set it at a lower temperature overnight or when you leave the house.
- If you can set your heating system, small changes like setting heating to switch off 15 minutes before bed or leaving home and setting heating to turn on just before you wake or arrive home can make a big difference.
Hot water
On average, gas hot water can contribute to 20-25% of your total gas bill. Therefore, any hot water savings can make a difference to your bills. Try these tips:
- Buying a low flow shower head could lead to significant savings on both your water and gas bill. All 4 and 5-star showerheads now need topass tests for spray force and coverage, so your shower experience shouldn’t be affected.
- By taking shorter showers, you can also reduce your energy and water usage.
- Depending on your washing machine, whether it heats the water itself or uses hot water from the taps, washing in cold water is a simple way reduce your gas usage. It’s also better for your clothes.
- Use the ‘economy’ setting on your dishwasher, to wash your dishes at a lower temperature and shorter time. Also try to hold off until you have a full dishwasher load – if that’s not possible, check to see if you have a ‘rapid wash’ or a ‘half-wash’ mode to be as energy-savvy as possible.
Cook smart
Efficient cooking habits can help reduce gas use in the kitchen. These small changes in cooking habits can lead to noticeable savings over time:
- Skip preheating your oven. This is usually only necessary if the dish requires rising or leavening – like cakes and bread. For other dishes like casseroles or roasts you can get away with tacking extra 20 minutes onto the recommended cook time.
- Check your oven door seals. Make sure there isn’t any heat escaping through damaged or worn seals as this means more heat’s needed / longer cook times to cook your food.
- Limit the number of times you open the oven door while cooking. This will extend cooking times by wasting heat.
- Match the pan size to the burner size. A small pan on a large burner will use unnecessary energy.
- Turn off the burner just before your food is cooked – the residual heat will finish cooking it.
- When using a stovetop, keep lids on pots to reduce cooking time.
- For stive top cooking, make sure you have good quality cookware. Pans with warped bottoms take longer to heat up evenly than flat-bottomed pans will.
- Try alternative cooking methods, such as utilising slow cookers to be more energy efficient.
Check your energy plan
There are several things you can do when checking your energy bills and plan. These tips should assist you:
- Review your energy plan – It’s important to consider reviewing your energy plan once a year. You can use these government comparison tools to assist in this process:
- Make sure you are getting your best offer – Since 2023, retailers must include a “best offer” message on your bill if you’re not already on their most cost-effective plan. Look out for this to avoid overpaying.
- Monitor and Understand Your Usage – Knowing how much gas you use is the first step to reducing it. Most energy retailers offer online portals where you can track your gas usage by billing cycle.
- Review your “average daily usage” for insights
- Compare usage for the same period in previous years
- Use this information to identify seasonal trends or unexpected spikes
- Visit this guide to understanding your gas bill for a detailed bill breakdown.
Longer term investments
Maintain your appliances
Appliances that are regularly serviced and well-maintained work more efficiently.
- Clean filters in heaters and hot water systems.
- Check for leaks or blockages.
- Book regular servicing with a licensed fitter.
- Check that your oven door seal is in good condition and replace it if it’s damaged.
Upgrade to More Efficient Appliances
If your gas appliances are more than 10–15 years old, they could be using more energy than necessary.
- Newer models often have lower running costs, but make sure you check the star rating system for energy efficiency and water usage.
- Compare long-term savings with Energy Made Easy
- Consider a switch to an instantaneous or continuous flow hot water system either gas or electrical, as these are more efficient that other options.
- If there’s an electrical option for the appliance, it’s worth considering the switch. Electrical appliances could cost you less, providing you take into account the Energy Rating, and they allow you to take full advantage of solar if you have a solar system.
Please note, these tips are intended for households already using gas. However, the effectiveness of upgrading appliances may vary depending on factors such as the size and layout of your home, the quality of your home’s insulation and the efficiency and age of your existing appliances.
Another long-term investment for a more energy efficient home is insulation. Depending on the existing insulation, it may be worth considering investing in new floor and/or ceiling insulation to keep the heat in and the cold out. Or simply ensure your existing roof and wall insulation is intact and effective.
Rebate Opportunities
There are several opportunities for rebates and/or concessions with energy bills and/or upgrading to approved gas appliances. For rebates and concessions that you may be eligible for please visit the governments website energymadeeasy.gov.au.
When considering purchasing a new gas appliance these incentives can assist with offsetting initial purchase and installation costs view current rebates available.
Check out our other money saving tips on these blog posts:
How to save on your grocery bill
Cost of Living Saving Tips for Elderly Australians
Ten tips for sticking to a budget on holidays
Source: https://www.originenergy.com.au/blog/how-to-reduce-your-gas-usage-at-home/
