Household tips can save you up to £500
Crowe must go from plump to pumped for Gladiator role
AN ENERGY-saving checklist can soften the blow of utility bill price rises and could save households as much as £500 a year.
About 15 million households are set to pay £100 a year more after three of the Big Six suppliers last week announced price hikes from April.
It comes days after industry regulator Ofgem announced it was lifting two price caps because of rising wholesale costs.
Npower will hit customers with an average 10.3 per cent rise from April 1. E.on and EDF have announced similar hikes and the other three firms are expected to follow suit.
But householders can save nearly £500 a year through nine energy-saving tips, compiled by independent supplier Utilita Energy. It says the biggest savings can be made by turning down the central heating thermostat.
The average setting in UK homes is 68F (20.1C) but at 64F (18C) most people should be warm enough in jeans and a jumper. Energy Saving Trust research shows turning down a room thermostat by just one degree can save up to £90 a year, so most people can save £180 in this way.
Those whose heating is set at 70F (21C) or 71F (22C) all winter can save £270 or £360 a year by changing it to 64F.
Other money savers, include turning off all appliances at the wall instead of leaving them on standby. This is worth £30 a year. Plasma TVs are energy-hungry and turning it off instead of hitting standby saves £35 a year.
Using a bowl to wash up in rather than a running tap will save another annual £30, while only filling the kettle with the amount of water needed will save about £7 a year. Spending one minute less in the shower each day will reduce energy bills by about £10 per person a year. Switching a light off, even for a few seconds, will save roughly £15.
Tumble dryers also use a lot of electricity, and cost most families about £100 a year to run. But many people do not realise that a blocked lint filter will mean clothes taking longer to dry, doubling energy usage.
Doing two loads of washing per week costs an average £40 a year but reducing your wash temperature from 40C to 30C can cut the energy usage by 40 per cent, or £16 annually. Other tips include unplugging your mobile phone once it is fully charged, as 95 per cent HOLLYWOOD star Russell Crowe faces an epic battle before picking up his sword again for the longawaited sequel to Gladiator.
The Australian actor, 54, must lose at least 4st before reprising his role in a follow-up to the blockbuster that earned him an Oscar almost two decades ago.
Crowe has been forced to pile on the pounds to portray portly Fox cable news boss Roger Ailes in TV mini-series The Loudest Voice and now tips the scales at just over 20st.
The star, who is just under 6ft, chose to beef-up during months of controlled weight gain rather than wear a prosthetic belly so he could more closely “connect” to his role as the late Ailes.
He now faces a dilemma after being told that director Sir Ridley Scott wants to start shooting his Gladiator follow-up within weeks of the last scenes being wrapped. A senior on-set production source confirmed:
“Russell is going to have less than two months to transform himself from an overweight news executive into a lean, mean of energy used by chargers is wasted once it fully loaded with power.
Listening to the radio through a TV uses far more energy than a radio, while turning radiators off in unused rooms and putting foil behind ones that are no longer being used will stop heat being lost through the walls.
Finally, defrosting fridge freezers regularly, keeping them well stocked and setting the fridge temperature to 3C and the freezer to -16C will save cash, too. Every degree lower uses five per cent more energy.
Bill Bullen, Utilita Energy chief executive, said: “Even basic things like not leaving your appliances on stand-by mode will help reduce costs. If you follow Utilita Energy’s guidelines, you should save money.” fighting machine in ancient Rome. He’s been made fully aware of the dangers of yo-yo dieting and his team is working out a tough new diet and exercise plan for him to follow without starving himself or harming his body.”
The 2000 Gladiator original garnered eleven Oscar nominations with five wins, including best actor and best picture. Crowe is slated for a prominent “flashback” role in the sequel despite the fact that his Maximus character met a grisly end in the original.
Gladiator 2 will continue the story of Lucius, the nephew of twisted emperor Commodus, who was stabbed to death by Maximus even though he had been mortally wounded himself. Fans will recall that Maximus had earlier rescued Lucius and his mother Lucilla. In the sequel, as Lucius becomes a man, he never forgets the bravery and wisdom of his late saviour and mentor – who returns in a series of flashback scenes.