Back-to-School Energy Savings: Cutting Costs When Kids Are Home
The six-week school summer holiday is a joy for Lancashire families, but it comes with a hidden sting: energy bills typically rise by £50-100 during the break. More people at home means more cooking, more screen time, more laundry, and more hot water use. With energy prices still elevated, every saving matters. Here are practical ways to keep costs down while the kids are off school, without making anyone miserable.
Where the Extra Energy Goes
Understanding where the extra consumption comes from helps you target your efforts. During school holidays, a typical Lancashire family of four sees increased electricity use from gaming consoles and computers (an extra 2-4 kWh per day), television left on for longer periods (1-2 kWh per day), more frequent use of the washing machine and tumble dryer (2-3 extra loads per week), additional cooking and use of the oven (1-2 kWh per day), and lights left on in unoccupied rooms.
Gas consumption may also increase if you are running the hot water more frequently for baths and showers. A family with teenagers can easily double their daily hot water use during the holidays as everyone is home rather than at school.
The total impact varies, but 3-6 kWh of extra electricity per day is typical. Over six weeks, that is 125-250 extra kWh, costing £30-60. Add increased gas for hot water and cooking, and the holiday premium reaches £50-100.
Gaming and Screen Time: The Biggest Electricity Drain
A PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X draws 100-200 watts during gameplay – similar to running a bright light bulb. Over a 6-hour gaming session (realistic for a teenager on a rainy Lancashire summer day), that is 0.6-1.2 kWh, costing 15-29p. Add the television (another 80-150 watts) and you are looking at 1-2 kWh per session.
Practical steps that do not require banning screens entirely include setting consoles to power-saving mode so they use less electricity during gameplay, using auto-shutdown timers to prevent consoles running overnight, encouraging gaming on tablets or laptops instead of consoles when possible (tablets use 5-15 watts versus 100-200 for consoles), and agreeing screen-time limits that happen to also limit electricity consumption.
If the weather cooperates, encouraging outdoor activities costs nothing in electricity. Lancashire has excellent parks, trails, and outdoor spaces – from Beacon Fell Country Park to the canal towpaths around Burnley and the Pennine Bridleway accessible from Rossendale. Free outdoor fun is the ultimate energy saving.
Cooking Smarter During the Holidays
With kids at home, the kitchen gets more use. Lunch becomes an additional meal to prepare, and snacks between meals add up. The oven is one of the most energy-hungry appliances in your kitchen, drawing 2-2.5 kW and often running for 30-60 minutes per use.
Alternatives that use far less energy include the microwave (uses 80% less energy than the oven for reheating and cooking small portions), the slow cooker (uses roughly the same energy in 8 hours as an oven uses in 30 minutes), the air fryer (uses roughly half the energy of an oven and preheats almost instantly), and the barbecue (zero household energy and a fun summer activity).
Batch cooking is another effective strategy. Rather than using the oven three or four times during the week, cook a large batch once and reheat portions in the microwave. A shepherd’s pie that takes 45 minutes in the oven uses roughly 2 kWh. Reheating a portion in the microwave takes 3 minutes and uses about 0.05 kWh. Over the summer holiday, batch cooking once or twice a week can save an estimated £10-15 in oven energy alone.
Laundry and Drying: Take Advantage of Summer
Kids generate more laundry during the holidays – muddy clothes from playing outside, swimwear, towels from garden water play. The washing machine is not hugely expensive to run (roughly 30-40p per wash on a 30-degree cycle), but the tumble dryer is. Drying a full load in a condenser dryer costs around 60-80p.
Lancashire’s summer, when it cooperates, offers free drying. A washing line in the garden or a clothes airer in the garden eliminates tumble dryer costs entirely on dry days. Even on overcast days, clothes will dry outdoors if there is a reasonable breeze – it just takes a few hours longer than in direct sunlight. For the six-week holiday, line drying instead of tumble drying could save an estimated £15-25 based on 4-5 loads per week.
When you must use the dryer (rainy days are inevitable in Lancashire), use the highest spin speed on your washing machine first. A good spin removes far more water than a tumble dryer, and the spin cycle uses a fraction of the energy. A 1400rpm spin costs about 2p and saves 15-20 minutes of tumble drying time – roughly 15-20p in dryer electricity.
Hot Water: Showers, Baths, and Splash Pads
An extra shower per day for each family member adds up. A 5-minute electric shower at 8.5kW uses about 0.7 kWh, costing roughly 17p. For a family of four taking one extra shower each per day during the holidays, that is an additional £29 over six weeks.
Encourage shorter showers (a shower timer costs £3-5 and makes it into a game for younger children), share bath water for smaller children (filling two baths costs twice as much as filling one), and for garden water play on hot days, use cold water from a hose rather than running hot water through the house.
If you have a timer on your hot water system, adjust it for the holidays. You may need hot water available for longer periods during the day compared to term time when the house is empty. But make sure it is not heating water overnight when nobody needs it.
Lighting and Standby: Easy Wins
With kids at home, lights get left on in empty rooms, chargers stay plugged in, and devices remain on standby. These small wastes add up over six weeks. A quick daily routine of switching off lights in empty rooms, unplugging charged devices, and turning off the TV when nobody is watching costs nothing and can save an estimated £5-10 over the holiday period.
If you have not already switched to LED bulbs, the school holidays are a good prompt. Replacing the 10 most-used bulbs in your home from halogen to LED costs around £20-30 and may save an estimated £30-50 per year. The investment pays back within months and the savings continue for years – LED bulbs last 15,000-25,000 hours compared to 2,000 hours for halogens.
Making It Fun for Kids
Involving children in energy saving can turn it into a summer project rather than a chore. Give them a smart plug with a display (around £15) and challenge them to measure the electricity use of different appliances. Run a weekly competition to see who can remember to switch off the most lights. Use a simple chart on the fridge to track daily electricity meter readings and celebrate when consumption drops.
Many Lancashire libraries and community centres run free summer activities with environmental themes. The Wildlife Trust Lancashire, Forest of Bowland AONB, and Lancashire County Council’s countryside service all offer free or low-cost events during the holidays that get kids outdoors, learning about energy and the environment, and not using electricity at home.
Should I turn the heating off completely during summer?
Turn the heating off but leave the hot water on. There is no need for space heating during July and August in Lancashire, even on cooler days. If you have a combi boiler, it only fires for hot water on demand, so there is nothing to turn off. For system boilers with a hot water cylinder, keep the hot water timer running but set it to heat once per day rather than twice – morning only is usually sufficient during summer when demand for hot water is lower.
Do fans use a lot of electricity?
No. A standard pedestal fan uses 40-60 watts, costing about 1-1.5p per hour. Even running a fan for 8 hours a day during a hot spell costs roughly 10p per day. Compared to a portable air conditioning unit at 30-50p per hour, fans are an extremely economical cooling option. For children’s bedrooms on warm summer nights, a fan on a timer is a cost-effective solution for comfortable sleep.
How much does it cost to fill a paddling pool?
A typical garden paddling pool holds 200-500 litres. On a water meter, water costs approximately £3-4 per cubic metre in the Lancashire area (United Utilities), so filling a 300-litre pool costs about £1-1.20. If you heat some of the water using your boiler or kettle, add another 30-50p for gas or electricity. Compared to a day out at a swimming pool or theme park, a paddling pool is extremely budget-friendly entertainment.
