If ministers won’t offer you energy saving tips… WE will!

A £15m energy saving awareness campaign was controversially scrapped by the government last week.

It was supposed to help households save up to £300 a year on their energy bills by making small changes to their homes. But Prime Minister Liz Truss has ruled out any government-backed advice for now.

Reports suggest that many middle-class families have taken matters into their own hands by investing in heated throws, airfryers and one-pan stoves.

But how much do these ‘energy-efficient’ appliances actually save?

Here, Money Mail has put together your go-to guide to energy-saving tips so you can keep rising bills in check this winter…

Recipes for success in the kitchen

Changing your cooking habits can save you over $100 a year.

The amount of energy you consume is measured per kilowatt hour (kWh). A kWh costs 34 pence and is equivalent to running a standard oven for 30 minutes.

In the kitchen, ovens are one of the least energy-efficient products, so it’s worth looking into alternative ways to heat your food.

Airfryers have become extremely popular in recent months due to their speed and low running costs.

It costs just 27 cents to bake a potato in an air fryer, according to the energy efficiency site Sust-it.net.

It would be 10 pence more expensive to cook in an oven. Still, a microwave with 7p is even cheaper.

Slow cookers can also cut bills. Cooking a chicken in one costs only 50 cents. This is almost half the £1.02 it takes to roast a chicken in an oven.

And just changing your cooking habits can have a big effect.

For example, cooking meals in batches and heating them up in a microwave all week could save you £112 a year, claims Utilita Energy.

And simmering vegetables instead of boiling them can cut your annual bills by £48.

And when it comes to washing dishes, it all depends on how long you run the tap.

According to the personal finance site nimblefins.co.uk, an average dishwasher load would cost 26 pence.

But someone turning on the tap for 15 minutes to wash the same amount of dishes by hand would spend twice as much: 52 pence. However, running a faucet for three minutes costs just 10 cents — and just under seven and a half minutes would be cheaper than the dishwasher.

Unplug vampire devices

Televisions, music speakers and other gadgets – so-called vampire devices – all consume enormous amounts of electricity when on standby.

But unplugging these devices can cut your bills by £55 a year, according to comparison site Uswitch.

Utilita Energy says it costs the average household 23 pence to leave a TV on standby for eight hours. Meanwhile, charging a laptop can save 6.8p in the same period.

Pulling the plug on a digital radio will also save you 14p over 24 hours. Hiring a professional to draft-proof doors, windows and cracks in the floors would cost around £225, but you’ll save £125 a year, according to the Energy Saving Trust (EST).

Fabric weatherstripping can be bought for as little as £3 on eBay.

Installing thermostatic radiator valves, which ensure rooms are kept at a constant temperature, can save £75 a year, according to the EST.

And if your radiator starts to gurgle, it may need to bleed to increase efficiency and cut bills. Most energy suppliers publish instructions on how to do this on their websites.

Some households use radiator reflectors to prevent heat from escaping through the walls. Radflek, which sells reflectors from £21.99, claims its products save £2.75 per radiator per year.

Sweet dreams before bed

Drawing the curtains before it gets dark can help trap more heat in your home.

But when it really starts to cool down, it might be worth investing in an electric blanket, which will typically set you back between $30 and $60.

A 100W electric blanket costs just over 5 cents to run at full power for an hour. So if you leave it on for two hours before bed, you’ll only lose 10 cents.

And investing in an electric heater can help cut bills if you only want short bursts of heat in a particular room while your heating is off.

They can cost as little as £20, but keep in mind that they are best used sparingly – they cost around 68 cents an hour to use.

Any 50W halogen bulb replaced with an LED alternative could also save you £3 a year, USwitch says.

It may not seem like much, but it makes sense when you consider that there are on average more than 12 lamps in every home.

Remembering to turn off the lights when you leave a room can also save you £20 a year.

Cleaning up in the bathroom

The easiest way to save money in the bathroom is to reduce the amount of water you use.

An average household could save £70 a year by reducing their shower time to four minutes, according to USwitch.

And swapping a bath for a four-minute shower every week can save £12 a year.

Insulating your hot water tank and pipes with an 80mm jacket can also save you £35 a year by reducing the amount of heat they lose.

If you have a hot water tank, make sure it isn’t heated constantly so that you only heat as much water as you need at certain times of the day.

Installing a water meter can also be worthwhile if you don’t already have one.

As a rule of thumb, if there are more bedrooms in your home than people who live in them, a water meter will save you money.

This is especially important because the average water bill increased by 1.7 pc from April. has increased, although this varies from country to country.

Small changes, big returns

Make sure your boiler and central heating system are working efficiently so that you don’t waste money.

According to the EST, the idea that it’s cheaper to leave the heating on low is a myth.

It’s best to only turn it on when you need it, and installing a timer on your thermostat will help you manage this.

Turning your thermostat down by just one degree could save you as much as £145 a year – and you’re unlikely to feel the difference in your home.

The EST recommends setting it between 18 and 21c.

Independent consumer advisor The Heating Hub also says you can save money instantly if you have a combi boiler by lowering the supply temperature – that’s how hot the water gets before it’s sent to your radiators.

Lowering this from 80c to 60c could save you £112 on the average annual energy bill.

And you can adjust these settings yourself with your boiler control, so you don’t have to call a technician.

A boiler insulation jacket can also improve efficiency.

The materials cost just £25 and it can save you up to £150 a year.

Households can also shave £100 off their bills by dumping their clothes dryer, according to USwitch.

A tumble dryer consumes 3 kWh per cycle and costs around £1.03. Drying two loads a week on a radiator or drying rack instead will save you £106 a year.

A plug-in drying rack, also known as a heated airer, is also a good alternative. A power on for two hours consumes 300 W of energy and costs only 20 pence.

The cheapest on offer is £40, so you’d save a total of £44 compared to using the dryer.

moneymail@dailymail.co.uk