Every Friday I publish “Frugal Friday!“, an open-ended series with some of the simple and best ways to really save you money both now and in the future.

This Friday I am concentrating on reducing electricity bills. Here in the UK winter-time is traditionally the time of higher energy usage: the elderly use electric blankets, whole families have home lighting left on for longer as British Summer Time draws to a close, and we are generally stuck inside for the evenings more often requiring entertainment.

There are some simple steps you can take (and some cool gadgets you can buy without guilt!), to help lessen the impact of this seasonal increase in our home carbon emissions courtesy of our electric usage.

Check Your Tariff

Before last year, there was massive competition in the domestic supply market with various “lock in” and “fixed” deals. You may well have switched, I know I did. The fix on those tariffs has come to a close now though and prices are floating upwards so it’s time to get switching again.

There are hundreds of sites that will likely find you something cheaper; some good starting points are GoCompare, CompareTheMarket, and uSwitch. Don’t forget to finally go via QuidCo to get any cashback available, too!

Energy Saving Lightbulbs

Fairly obvious this one, and easy to achieve. Morrison’s just last week had an offer on of 4 for £1, and not low-quality either. As the nights get longer, more retailers will be trying to tempt us, so keep your eyes peeled. Even if you pay full price for them though you will still make a saving. The average bulb lasts for 5 years of normal use and consumes between 11 and 17 watts.

By switching all the bulbs in your house to low-energy equivalents, you could save around £112 a year and up to a whopping £307 over the life of a typical 8,000 hour bulb.

Turn Them Off

When you leave a room, turn the light off. Sounds so simple but take a moment and think – in the depths of winter – how often do you walk/drive/cycle around and think half of the houses you come across look like they are attempting to imitate the Blackpool Illuminations? Why pay even a reduced amount to keep an unoccupied room lit?

This can be a challenge with children, but with a little perseverance even the family dog can probably manage to turn the light out when it has finished in the kitchen. Your moody teenager may require slightly more effort.

Kill The Standby

Televisions, DVD players, computers, Satellite, Cable, modems, microwaves, food mixers, video recorders, printers, even modern intelligent washing machines and dishwashers. It’s amazing what has a ‘standby’ mode these days. When standing by, ready for action, these devices are still sucking electricity and adding to your bills yet giving little to no benefit. Switch them off at the wall when you are done using them and again save upwards of £50 over the course of a typical year.

The Bye Bye Standby Energy Saving Kit takes the hassle out of such energy efficiencies by automatically killing the power for you when the device enters standby. It even comes with a handy remote to remotely control whatever you plug into it.

Monitor Your Usage

Last year, I got an Owl Cm119 Wireless Electricity Monitor, and they are absolutely fabulous. You can literally see, in real time, just how much money is being wasted in your home – and perhaps more impressive – see the difference after your efforts. The device pays for itself inside the first month or two, and you can find yourself doing seasonal challenges if you are not careful!

Banish the Tumble

As convenient as the tumble-dryer may be, it costs pounds to use every time. Pop the clothes out on the line if the weather is nice and get nicer clothes that last longer, dried for free courtesy of mother nature. Even if it is windy but lacking in sun you’ll be surprised how quickly clothes can dry in the open air.

Fridge & Freezer

If your freezer requires it, keep it defrosted regularly. Any build-up of ice means it has to work harder, consuming more electricity. If your fridge is regularly half-empty or more, fill it with water-filled bottles. These will help keep the inside temperature stable and reduce the effects opening and closing the door have. If your appliance(s) are older, when replacing ensure you get A-rated.

Never put warm or hot items in your fridge or freezer, either. Not only will this play havok with the internal temperature, it can take hours for your appliance to restore the previous temperature and damage food already within as well.

If you haven’t started hedging yet, now really is the time to start. Even if you only manage to hedge one tank-full, you’ll be relatively better off than if you don’t. Here’s why:

From next Tuesday (September 1st) the government’s 2p/litre rise in fuel duty announced in the last budget comes into force. Analysts are saying fuel prices will rise far beyond that initial rise due to the renewed increases in the price of oil, partly thanks to world economies picking up again as the recession eases worldwide.

Get Hedging – If you haven’t read my ‘Part 1′ on doing it, now is the time to do so.

Give Some Love – Your vehicle is a complex piece of machinery that works at its best when well cared for. Clean out or change that air filter, give it an oil change, or drop it in a little early for that annual service. A well-serviced vehicle can improve your MPG by up to 15%.

Clear the Crap – Is your vehicle used like a secondary storage cupboard? Do you have a boot filled with ‘stuff’? Every time you accelerate your car down the road, you’re using fuel unnecessarily by having to accelerate that ‘stuff’ as well as you and the vehicle itself. Take 5 minutes today and assess what is in your car. Do you need it? If the answer is no, take it out.

Inflation is Good – When it comes to your tyres, anyway. Dig out the owners manual for your vehicle and find out what tyre pressures you should have, then check them. If you don’t have any method of doing this at home, next time you’re passing a Shell petrol station, dive in. They offer free Water & Air at every garage. If you do a lot of high milage high speed driving, consider pumping 1 PSI above the recommended level for a little bit more of an efficiency edge. Check them monthly to keep your edge.

Kill Your Speed – Speeding might hurt your pocket in obvious ways, i.e. 3 points on your license and a £60 fine in your wallet. But it hurts in less obvious ways as well. If you get caught, you lose time. An average traffic stop consumes around 30 minutes. Your insurance premium may well go up if you get points on your license, which will keep costing you for up to 4 years. But going faster also consumes more fuel as well; Slowing down and keeping to the limit will keep the police off your tail, and more miles traveled between tanks.

Drive Smoothly – Harsh acceleration drinks fuel. Harsh braking eats brakes. Cut your maintenance costs and fueling costs by anticipating further ahead than you might be accustomed to by training yourself to look to the horizon. Anticipating events that appear to be brewing ahead (traffic lights, queues, junctions etc) and laying off the accelerator 20 seconds earlier will reduce your speed, and cut the amount of petrol you burn. As an added benefit, your passengers will enjoy being in the car with you as they no longer feel like they’re in an Exocet missile.

Idle Waste – It happens, and yes it is annoying, but it doesn’t have to cost your wallet as well as your timepiece. The gates come down at the level crossing just as you approach. Kill your engine: chances are you’re going to be there for at least 5 minutes. In a modern engine, 1 minute of idling is the same as driving 1km. Save yourself 5km’s of road driving, and switch off while you wait. You’ll also help cut emissions and noise pollution at the same time.

Find Cheap Fuel – A little forward planning goes a long way. Don’t wait until your car is complaining you’ve got less than 2 minutes to find it some fuel or it’ll dump you on the side of the motorway. While I advocate only buying half a tank at a time (remember – extra weight costs money to shift, and fuel is heavy!), I recommend doing your homework first before pulling in to any random garage. Today, the prices range from 110.9 in my area, to 100.9 for a litre of diesel! That’s a whole 10p per litre difference. If you’re buying 50 litres, that’s a whopping £5 difference! Sign up at PetrolPrices.com and you can see what stations near you are charging right now. A few minutes work here will save you potentially hundreds of pounds over the course of a year with minimal effort.