When energy bills come in, most people ignore everything but the total and due date, usually with a grimace and groan.

The bad news goes hand-in-hand with home energy use increasing - more appliances, more entertainment and more time spent at home - coinciding with increased energy rates as suppliers struggle to keep up with demand, especially as transport and delivery prices are soaring. That means that Aussies everywhere are likely feeling the pinch and dreading opening the next energy bill.

Rather than ignore your bill, it pays to give it a closer inspection. There is a lot of additional information on your bill that can help you understand your energy use and the terms and conditions you are under.

While there isn't much you can do to stop the rising electricity costs put in place by suppliers, by understanding the components that make up your bill you can put some simple changes in place around your home that can make some big differences, that might even include switching providers if the fixed charge is high.

This article will cover some of the impactful ways you can make easy and immediate changes to your home energy habits and activities. You can use them all or mix and match to suit your home setup and personal energy use.

Ways to Reduce Your Electricity Bill

Because every household is different, the tips you choose to reduce your energy use and help control your energy bill will most likely be different to your friends and neighbours. Read through and select the tips that are right for you.

Take note of appliance energy ratings

When choosing appliances for your home take note of the energy rating. This will allow you to see how efficient the energy use will be and allow you to compare between products easily. While higher energy ratings are typically more expensive to buy outright, they can save hundreds in running costs each year.

As well as overall efficiency, make sure you assess your needs to buy the right size for your daily usage and run cycles on the most energy-efficient setting available.

Set a moderate temperature

When using fridges, freezers, heaters and air conditioners you don’t need the hottest or coldest setting to get great results. A moderate setting will give your systems a longer life as well as keep your energy bills down consistently. Set air conditioners to between 21 to 23°C and heaters between 18°C and 20°C so you feel comfortable and see great results on your energy bills.

Lock out the weather

As well as using the right temperature settings, seal up any cracks that allow drafts in or air to escape around your fridge and freezer door seals as well as the windows and doors. Shut the door on any room you are not using and close curtains and blinds to reduce temperature loss from glass and windows.

Avoid peak energy times

In certain situations you can get great benefits if you are using energy when demand is low. Every provider is different so check with your energy supplier to get the full details. Typically off-peak rates run from 10pm until 7am. to take advantage consider running appliances at night such as:

• - Hot water heaters

• - Washing machines

• - Clothes dryers

• - Slow cookers

• -  Bread makers

Move to solar

While there are some initial set up costs, energy from the sun is free. There are a lot of different solar setups you can look into that can help reduce your dependence on grid energy:

• - Heat pumps

• - Solar hot water

• - Solar PV

• - Solar battery storage

• - Feed-in tariffs

These come at different costs and have a range of rebates so check in to see what is current with your electrician or local solar installation crew.

All it takes is a little time to get familiar with your energy bill information and how you use energy in your home. Along with these tips, a little knowledge can help flag energy waste and point the way to changes you can make to get a better result when your energy bills roll in.

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