A woman says she's "relieved" to have slashed her annual energy bills by nearly £550 after discovering just how inefficient the humidifier in her basement actually was. Melinda Gaunt, 64, had no idea how much the costly appliance was setting her back each year until she began looking for ways to lower her bills back in May.
Concerned by reports of rising costs, Melinda and her husband David, 73, came across a post on a local community Facebook group page warning that dehumidifiers ranked among a number of household appliances that could be adding to household bills. Wanting to find out exactly how much theirs was costing them, the couple invested in a smart plug, a plug that measures the energy consumption of individual appliances. With an approximate price tag of £15, smart plugs can be slotted into your socket, before the other appliance is plugged in.
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As previously reported by The Sun, Melinda and David left theirs in for more than a week and were shocked to discover their humidifier was costing them £1.50 every single day, adding up to a whopping £547.50 each year.
Melinda, from Northwich, told the publication: "We were both quite shocked at how much it was costing us. We have a basement room which seemed to be constantly smelling musty, so we bought a dehumidifier. It's been constantly running all the time for more than three years - but I just never thought of the cost of it."
The retired grandmother of three has since switched off the humidifier, and will now only run it when necessary. It had "never occurred" to her to turn it off before, and she says they're now both "relieved" by the savings they're making.
Warning others who might be in a similar position, Melinda continued: "Check your appliances, because if you’re leaving something on all the time, or on standby, it's still using a lot of money over the year - a few pence a day soon adds up."
Do you have an energy-saving tip to share? Email us at julia.banim@reachplc.com
