Save money on bills and make your home healthy and warm this winter.

Are you spending too much on power each month? Is your home as healthy as it could be? Adrian Feasey from Auckland Council shares tips on how to save money, improve health and make your home energy efficient.

What you can do in and around your home

• Draw curtains at dusk to keep the day's heat in.
• Stop draughts by making sure your windows and doors fit their frames. Use draught stopping tape around windows and doors or door snakes along the bottom of doors.
• Turn your heaters off when you don’t need them, rather than leaving them on when you’re not there. This includes your heat pump.
• Cooking, showering and washing all introduce moisture to your home. The best way to get rid of this moisture is with externally vented extraction. Make sure to open windows and doors a few times a day to air the house.
• Dry clothes outside. Try not to use indoor airing racks or clothes dryers that vent into your house - the moisture in the clothes will end up in your home.
• Lighting is one of the easiest places you can save energy around your house. Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient LEDs.
• Heating water is expensive, so using less hot water has a big impact on your energy bills. Install an iSmart hot water controller. These enable you to control the times at which your hot water cylinder heats, and only heat the amount of water you actually need. Also consider using an efficient showerhead, which still gives you a great shower, but uses much less water.
• Appliances and home entertainment left on standby can cost you more than $100 a year on your power bills. Plug them into multi-plug boards so they can all be turned off properly at the same time.

Get your home health check

Homeowners in Papakura and Takanini can now get the best advice via a home health check thanks to the Energy Efficient Communities Project, an initiative of Entrust, Vector and Auckland Council.

Available to all eligible home owners, an independent Home Energy Advisor will assess your home and give advice, saving you up to $300 on your power bill per year. They will also provide the following benefits:

• 10 LED lightbulbs (conditions apply).
• An installed iSmart hot water controller (conditions apply).
• Advice to retain heat in your home and suggested changes to make your home warmer.
• Practical advice to manage moisture levels in cold, non-ventilated or mouldy rooms.