With Ireland in the middle of a cost of living crisis, the Government is planning to intervene to try and help out anyone struggling to pay the bills.
Energy, coal, gas, oil, petrol and diesel have all seen prices spike in the last few weeks, with no signs of a slow down.
This, in turn, has seen electrical companies jack up prices for the near future.
READ MORE: Every major electricity price hike so far as cost of living crisis continues
Eamon Ryan hinted that a new package would be brought forward in "a few weeks" to try and assist people while speaking to RTE.
But he also explained that there would be a focus on ' energy efficiency' from Government, with the hopes that people will be smarter about using their appliances.
The room with the most electrical appliances that are used regularly is likely your kitchen.
The folks at Electric Ireland have put together some top tips when using kitchen appliances to help you save some money
The oven
If you've an electric oven, this will obviously drive things up a bit further, with around 2kWhs (approx. €0.40) per hour of cooking, as opposed to a fan oven.
Do you find yourself opening the oven door to check if your food is ready? You might want to stop doing that.
Around 20% of heat is lost when the door opens, meaning that more energy has to be spent to get it back to the right temperature.
Cook as much as possible in one go by using the shelves so you can use the energy more efficiently.
Or, if you are rushing to throw something in the oven after work, consider a slow cooker - which uses around 150kWhs per hour.
The kettle
Here's one that is rumoured to be a part of the plan from the Government to teach Ireland about energy efficiency.
When using the kettle, only boil as much water as you need , so if you’re making a quick cuppa, you don’t have to fill the kettle to the top.
The toaster
If you’re making toast, use the toaster rather than toasting under the grill.
The hob
Again, it's all about sizes and spacing to get the best use out of the energy.
Firstly, use the right sized pots and pans. If you're only cooking a bit of pasta for one, use the small pot, otherwise it'll take longer to heat up.
Use lids on pots as they contain the heat and speed up the cooking process.
Use pots and pans that cover the whole of the size of the ring – using a ring that’s too big for the pot wastes energy, while a pot that is too big for a small ring will take longer to heat.
One that people might not be doing is turning off the ring when you know the food is almost ready - the residual heat will cook the rest of it as it cools down.
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