Fairy lights festooning every room, the heating turned up, the cooker always cooking, toys charging, music playing – you’d think that over Christmas energy usage skyrockets. However, over the festive period, Britain uses actually uses less energy. It’s been reported that Britain uses 20% less energy on Christmas Day, and while that may be true for the whole country, it’s certainly not the case for anyone hosting their family’s festive feast. 

While many offices, schools and shops close for a few days, there’s less demand on the grid. And as we all pile round mum’s, our houses are left unheated, unlit and consuming very little energy. With so many homes and buildings empty and unused on Christmas day, we collectively use less energy than average. 

For those hosting Christmas, energy use soars. The average household spends up to £50 more on gas and electricity in December, and for those with extravagant lighting displays the bill can be as much as £170 more! Cooking a turkey, which on average takes five hours in the oven, costs around £1.50 to power – around one and a half times a family’s standard electricity bill for a whole day. 

If you’re looking to lower energy use and bills this year, there are a few simple tips that will make a big difference.

• Choose LED fairy lights. LEDs use 90% less energy than incandescent lights, and solar powered lights in the garden won’t cost you a penny in electricity or CO2! 
  
• Turn off the telly. No one really wants to watch a shouting match on EastEnders anyway! 
  
• Turn down the thermostat. A couple of degrees makes all the difference.
  
• Be clever with your food storage. An overcrowded fridge will use more energy than usual, store items like drinks and vegetables in a cool garage or shed. 
  
• Defrost your freezer before Christmas. The more ice in a freezer, the more energy it uses – and the less space there is for you to use! 

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