US Edition
Leaving lights on in empty rooms is the most common argument that families have over their household bills, despite the energy-wasting habit costing less than £2 extra each year.
Around half of families bicker about leaving the lights on, with more than 40 arguments over wasted electricity annually.
However, leaving a 4.2 Watt LED bulb on for an extra four hours every day only adds up to £1.75 extra over the course of a year, analysis compiled by comparison site Uswitch suggests. Parents turn off 338 lights in empty rooms every year on average, it found.
But households ought to be more concerned about the temperature on the thermostat, the analysis suggested. This is because increasing the temperature by just one degree could raise an annual heating bill by as much as 10pc, according to the Energy Saving Trust.
Thermostat settings can make a significant difference to household bills, yet ranked seventh as the most argued about energy bills topic with one in three families squabbling over how high the heating should go.
The overall cost of heating ranked second, with four in ten families rowing about the cost of bills 33 times a year on average.
Leaving the television on when no one is watching ranked fifth. A 70W television adds an additional 8p to electricity bills for every four hours it is left running.
Meanwhile, one in four families have fallen out over how best to stack the dishwasher, with poorly loaded plates leading to extra cycles and pushing up bills.
The news comes as average energy bills increased by 5pc in January due to another rise in the energy price cap, which limits the rate at which households pay for their power use.
Natalie Mathie, of USwitch, said rising energy costs had become a serious source of friction within family homes.
“Everyone in the home can play a part in reducing their usage,” she said. “Getting into good habits as a household can save a lot of money, and even small and simple changes such as turning off lights or TVs when not in use can all add up.”
However, she added that not all spats would make a huge difference to the energy bill. “While leaving a light on will cost very little over the course of a year, the cost of regularly running extra loads in the washing machine and dishwasher could set households back a few pounds every month.”
Running a washing machine and dishwasher cycle costs an average of 20p and 23p respectively, the research found.
Around a third of families also argue about so-called “vampire appliances”, devices that drain power even when they are on standby, such as keeping a desktop computer or PlayStation on standby. However, these would cost less than 1p each after 24 hours.
Appliances with low energy efficiency ratings are more likely to rack up costs. An investigation by the consumer group Which? last year found that a £7 Argos kettle would cost £51 a year to run based on energy prices at the time of the research, double the average of £23. The most energy-efficient models cost £8 a year.
However, households can also waste hundreds of pounds worth of energy by overfilling their kettles. Three in five people have admitted to using more water than necessary to make a cup of tea, even though it could waste £40 worth of energy a year, separate research found.
Despite an initial rise in energy bills so far this year, experts have predicted that household energy bills could fall by as much as £268 by the end of 2024.
The energy consultant Cornwall Insight has predicted that Ofgem’s price cap will fall to £1,660 by April, down from the £1,928 in January. The analysts also predicted a further decline to around £1,590 by July.
Analysts at Investec have also forecast that annual average gas and electricity bills will fall by £234 this year.
However, economists have warned that ongoing conflict in the Middle East could disrupt energy supplies and drive fuel prices higher.
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