A dripping kitchen tap, an overfilled kettle or a towel rail running longer than needed can be easy to overlook. Before investing in replacements, it’s worth checking whether a small repair or a change in your routine could help.
In this guide, we'll explore free and low cost ways to reduce water and energy waste, alongside simple upgrades to consider when existing fittings either need replacing or aren't working as they should.
Does saving water also save energy?
Using less hot water saves both water and the energy needed to heat it. Using less cold water, such as when flushing the toilet, saves water but won't directly reduce your energy bill.
If you have a water meter, using less water can reduce the amount you’re charged for consumption, although fixed charges still apply. Your total bill could still rise if your supplier increases its prices.
If you’re unmetered, using less water won’t normally reduce your water bill, but using less hot water can still save energy.
What could you save?
Many of the things adding to household bills happen little and often - a dripping tap left for weeks, radiators working harder than they need to or more water being heated than necessary each day.
On their own, they can seem insignificant, but over time they can quietly increase both water and energy usage across the home.
The examples below show how particular changes could affect annual costs.
Habit |
Annual reduction |
Potential saving |
| Setting the thermostat higher than needed | Lower the room thermostat from 22°C to 21°C | £80-£120 per household |
| Leaving an electric towel rail running unnecessarily | Reduce one 100W electric towel rail from 12 to four hours daily. | £77 |
| Showering longer than needed | Shorten daily showers from five to four minutes at eight litres/minute saves 2,920 litres per person, or 11,680 litres for a family of four, annually | £20 per person / £80 for family of four (including water and gas heating savings) |
| Always using the full flush | Using a three-litre rather than six-litre flush for two of four daily flushes saves 2,190 litres per person | £9 per person / £37 for a family of four (metered water charges) |
| Leaving a tap dripping | Repair one tap leaking 15 litres per day, or 5,475 litres per year | £23 for cold water / £38 including gas heated hot water |
| Overfilling the kettle | Boiling a full 1.5–1.7-litre kettle three times daily for two cups needing 300–500ml heats an unnecessary 1,095–1,533 litres a year | £32–£44 in electricity |
| Using a kitchen tap with unnecessarily high flow | Fit a tap aerator and save almost half of water used | £18-£20 per household |
In an illustrative family-of-four scenario, these changes together could reduce annual water and energy costs by around £350.
Free and low cost changes
Sometimes a few changes to everyday habits and small repairs can help reduce waste in the first instance.
1. Investigate dripping taps
A persistent drip doesn’t automatically mean you need a new tap. Depending on the design and source of the leak, cleaning or replacing a washer, cartridge or seal may solve the problem.
Start by checking where the water is escaping. Identify the correct part and isolate the water supply before dismantling anything. If you’re unsure, contact a plumber or the manufacturer.
Our guide to fixing a dripping tap explains the checks to make and when to ask for help. For specific repairs, see how to change a tap washer or how to change a ceramic disc cartridge.
2. Avoid leaving taps running between tasks
Turn the tap off when you don’t need the water, such as while brushing your teeth. When washing up by hand, use a bowl rather than a continuously running tap.
Use cold water for tasks that don’t need hot water, such as giving the sink a quick rinse after removing food scraps, rinsing an empty washing-up bowl or wetting a cloth for a quick wipe. With a mixer tap, move the lever to cold rather than leaving it in the middle out of habit.
3. Fill the kettle with the amount you need
Measure the water for the drinks you’re making rather than filling the kettle out of habit or to the minimum fill requirements if what you need is less. This way you're not only reducing water waste, but significantly reducing the energy needed to run the kettle.
4. Try a shorter shower
If you tend to linger in the shower, try cutting your usual time by just one minute.
Cutting a daily shower from five to four minutes at eight litres per minute saves 2,920 litres per person each year, or 11,680 litres for a family of four.
Using the assumptions in this guide, that could save around £20 per person or £81 for a family of four annually, including metered water charges and gas used to heat the water.
Set a four-minute timer or choose a song of roughly that length to help you keep track!
5. Understand your toilet’s flush options
If you have a dual-flush toilet with standard three and six litre options, choosing the smaller flush when appropriate can save water. Using it for two of four daily flushes would save around 2,190 litres per person each year.
A leaking toilet can waste water too. If water continues trickling into the bowl after the cistern has finished refilling, investigate the fault. A worn flush valve seal or faulty fill valve could be responsible. If you’re unsure where to start, contact a plumber.
6. Make the most of heating controls
Use heating and electric towel-rail schedules to provide warmth when you need it, rather than leaving them running unnecessarily.
If your electric towel rail has thermostatic controls, use them to maintain a suitable temperature. The heating element switches on and off as needed - a process called thermostatic cycling - rather than drawing full power continuously. Combined with a timer, this can help you manage its temperature and running hours.
Kitchen upgrades to consider
If your kitchen fittings need replacing, choosing suitable water saving features can help reduce everyday waste.
1. Choose a water saving kitchen tap
Many kitchen taps in our range include aerators, which mix air into the stream. For water savings, look for a model with a flow restrictor or a documented lower flow rate suitable for your water pressure.
A lower-flow tap can reduce consumption during washing and rinsing, provided you don’t leave it running longer.
For example, reducing flow from 12 to eight litres per minute, with five minutes of daily use unchanged, would save 7,300 litres annually. That represents around £31 a year, excluding any energy saved heating hot water.
Before buying, check the tap’s pressure requirements, fitting dimensions and reach over your sink. Explore our water-saving kitchen tap picks for options.
2. Consider whether a boiling-water tap suits your routine
A boiling water tap lets you dispense the amount needed for drinks or cooking without filling and boiling a kettle each time. For households using hot water regularly throughout the day, it's a real added convenience.
Whether it reduces electricity costs depends on the model’s standby consumption, how much hot water you use and how efficiently you currently use your kettle, but it can make a marked difference in some cases.
Bathroom upgrades to consider
Bathrooms account for a large proportion of household water consumption, particularly in larger family homes or shared accommodation. Showers, baths and toilet flushing alone can represent a significant share of daily indoor water use.
Because these activities happen every day - often more than once - even small improvements in flow rates or temperature control can make a noticeable difference over time.
1. Choose a suitable water saving shower head
Showers are one of the highest water use activities in the home. Traditional shower heads can use around 12-15 litres of water per minute, while many modern water-saving models reduce this to around 6–9 litres per minute while still maintaining strong pressure through improved spray designs.
For example, switching from 14 to eight litres per minute would reduce water use by 30 litres during a five-minute shower. For someone showering daily, that adds up to nearly 11,000 litres a year from one daily shower alone.
Based on current UK water rates, that represents around £46 per person i annual savings, before factoring in the energy savings from heating less water than usual.
2. Upgrade to a dual flush toilet
Toilets account for roughly 30% of indoor household water use with older single-flush models using up to 9-13 litres per flush.
A dual-flush toilet lets you use the appropriate volume for the waste being cleared, typically six litres for the full flush and three litres for a reduced flush.
If we assume four flushes per person daily, water consumptions looks like this:
- Older nine litre toilet: 36 litres per person daily
- Dual flush model: 18 litres per person daily
That's a 6,570 litres difference per person annually, representing around £28 per person a year, or £111 for a family of four.
3. Install a thermostatic shower or mixer
A surprising amount of water is wasted during the “temperature adjustment” phase of a shower.
Running the water while waiting for it to warm up - or adjusting it repeatedly - can waste several litres each time. But by using a shower with thermostatic controls, you can reach the desired temperature faster, maintain it consistently and prevent unnecessary overheating.
If you can avoid one minute of unnecessary running water per daily shower, a flow rate of eight to ten litres per minute would mean saving 2,920–3,650 litres per person annually - around £12–£15 per person a year, or £49–£61 for a family of four. Plus, any energy saved heating the water would be additional.
Heating controls and maintenance to consider
Heating accounts for roughly 55–60% of the average UK household’s energy bill, making it the largest area of potential savings. Small adjustments to how heat is distributed can reduce waste, particularly during colder months, when systems have been running consistently for months.
1. Make better use of room controls
Thermostatic radiator valves, or TRVs, regulate hot water flow through individual radiators in response to the surrounding temperature. They let you set different temperatures in different rooms.
Review the settings in rooms you use less often rather than automatically heating every room to the same level. But always maintain adequate warmth for the property and everyone living there.
For the room thermostat, Energy Saving Trust estimates that reducing the setting from 22°C to 21°C could save around £120 a year in Great Britain or £80 in Northern Ireland.
2. Bleed radiators
A radiator that stays cold at the top may contain trapped air. Bleeding an affected radiator releases that air and can help restore even heat output.
If trapped air causes your heating system to run inefficiently for even an extra 10 minutes per day across a typical four-month heating season - roughly November to February - that additional gas usage can quietly add up over time.
Bleeding radiators is a relatively quick job that many households can do themselves, and it may help heating systems operate more efficiently. It’s often recommended after periods of heavy winter use before radiators sit largely unused over summer, and again before heating systems are switched back on heading into colder months.
3. Add timers to heated towel rails
Heated towel rails are often left running longer than necessary, particularly during colder months. Adding a timer could help to keep it running only when you need it and save on energy costs as a result. Similarly, adding thermostatic controls can help you to regulate temperature.
A 100-watt electric towel rail drawing full power for 12 hours a day throughout the year would cost around £115 annually to operate, using an electricity rate of 26.32p/kWh.
Running the same rail for four hours daily would cost around £38 annually - a potential reduction of approximately £77 a year.
4. Check whether a lower boiler flow temperature is suitable
The heating flow temperature is the temperature of water sent from the boiler through your radiators. It is different from your room thermostat setting.
For a suitable condensing combi boiler, reducing the heating flow temperature to around 60°C may improve efficiency, provided your home still reaches a comfortable temperature.
If this reduced heating gas consumption by 5%, an assumed £900 annual heating cost would fall by around £45.
Follow the manufacturer’s guidance. If your system heats a hot-water cylinder, seek advice before changing settings so safe hot water storage temperatures are maintained.
How much could these changes save your household?
The amount you could save depends on your starting point. A household already using efficient fittings and suitable controls will have less scope to reduce waste than one with persistent leaks or unnecessarily long running times.
There may be just one or two changes you could make to improve efficiency and make cost savings, or you might find that all of the updates and habit changes apply to you.
Examples from this guide include:
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Kitchen tap: reducing flow from 12 to eight litres per minute, with five minutes of daily use unchanged, could save around £31 annually in metered water charges.
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Shorter showers: cutting a daily shower from five to four minutes at eight litres per minute could save around £20 per person annually, or £81 for four people, including metered water charges and gas heating costs.
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Reduced toilet flushes: choosing a three-litre instead of six-litre flush for two of four daily flushes could save around £9 per person annually, or £37 for four people, in metered water charges.
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Room thermostat: Energy Saving Trust estimates that reducing the setting from 22°C to 21°C could save around £120 annually per household in Great Britain, provided everyone remains comfortably warm.
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Electric towel rail: reducing a 100W rail from 12 to four hours daily could save around £77 annually, assuming it draws full power throughout those hours.
For a two-person household implementing several of these changes, that could represent around £330–£343 per year for two people.
For a family of four that could increase to £389–£402 where every stated scenario applies.
Actual savings depend on your starting habits, fittings, heating system and tariffs, and interactions between changes may reduce the total. Purchase, installation and repair costs are excluded.
What water bills look like in England and Wales
Water UK’s published forecast puts the average annual household water and wastewater bill in England and Wales at around £639 for 2026/27. Individual bills vary by supplier, services and charging arrangements.
That average bill isn’t the price of the water you use. Metered bills include usage charges alongside fixed charges, so reducing consumption can lower the usage-related part while fixed charges remain.
For consistency, our water-saving calculations use Thames Water’s published 2026/27 metered usage charges. These are an example tariff, not a national average. Check your own bill to estimate what the same reduction would mean for you.
What energy bills look like today
Ofgem’s energy price cap for October–December 2026 is £1,723 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit in Great Britain.
This isn’t a limit on your total bill. The cap limits unit rates and standing charges on covered tariffs; what you pay depends on how much energy you use, your region and payment method.
Average Direct Debit unit rates for this period are 26.32p/kWh for electricity and 7.97p/kWh for gas. These are the rates used in our worked examples, held constant to illustrate annual costs.
Reducing consumption can lower the usage-related part of your bill, although standing charges remain. If you’re on a fixed or other tariff, use the unit rates on your own bill to estimate your savings.
Your quick checklist
- Investigate dripping taps and water trickling into toilet bowls.
- Turn taps off between tasks.
- Measure the water needed for the kettle.
- Try reducing unnecessary shower time.
- Check how your toilet’s reduced flush operates.
- Review heating temperatures and running schedules.
- Check compatibility and running costs before buying replacements.
Frequently asked questions
Methodology
The worked examples illustrate specified scenarios, rather than typical or guaranteed household savings.
- Water charges: Thames Water’s 2026/27 metered usage charges of £2.7346/m³ for water and £1.4721/m³ for wastewater, totalling £4.2067 per 1,000 litres. Fixed charges are excluded.
- Energy rates: electricity at 26.32p/kWh and gas at 7.97p/kWh—Ofgem’s average Direct Debit rates for Great Britain for October–December 2026, held constant for annual illustrations.
- Shorter showers: one shower per person daily, reduced from five to four minutes at eight litres per minute.
- Replacement shower head: flow reduced from 14 to eight litres per minute, with a five-minute daily shower unchanged.
- Water heating: shower and hot-tap-leak calculations assume water heated from 15°C to 40°C by a gas boiler at 85% efficiency. Separate pipework and storage losses aren’t modelled.
- Toilet habits: four flushes per person daily, with two reduced from six to three litres.
- Replacement toilet: four daily nine-litre flushes replaced by two six-litre and two three-litre flushes per person.
- Tap flow: reduced from 12 to eight litres per minute, with five minutes of daily running time unchanged.
- Tap leak: 15 litres daily, fully stopped by repair. Actual leak rates vary.
- Electric towel rail: one 100W rail drawing full power, reduced from 12 to four hours daily throughout the year. Thermostatic cycling changes actual consumption and savings.
- Kettle: three full boils daily in a 1.5–1.7-litre kettle compared with heating 300–500ml each time, where permitted by its minimum-fill instructions. Calculations assume water heated from 15°C to 100°C, 90% efficiency and excess water cooling fully between boils.
- External estimates: thermostat and kitchen-aerator savings are attributed to Energy Saving Trust and use its methodology rather than our worked-example assumptions.
Actual results depend on fittings, heating systems, tariffs and household routines. Figures are rounded. Purchase, installation, maintenance and repair costs aren’t deducted, and overlapping examples shouldn’t be added together.
Sources: Thames Water metered charges, Ofgem energy unit rates, Energy Saving Trust heating controls, Energy Saving Trust energy-saving tips, boiler flow-temperature guidance and Water UK’s 2026/27 bill figures.
