Are you pouring money down the drain

Three-quarters of British households overfill their kettle when boiling water and are wasting £68million each year in the process, according to a report by the Energy Saving Trust.

Some 95 per cent of people boil the kettle every day, and 40 per cent boil water five times a day or more, the EST found. We boil the the kettle 24 times a week on average.

People who absentmindedly fill the kettle to the top before boiling, but only to use a fraction of it, are wasting £68million in electricity and gas used to heat the water, the EST said.
On average, 16 per cent of a household’s energy bill is from water-using activities, split across both gas and electricity usage – equating to around £228 of an annual energy bill.

Households use nine billion litres of water every day, with showers using a quarter of the total and toilets taking 22 per cent, according to the study which looked at how water is used in 86,000 homes.

The report also found the average shower lasts seven and a half minutes, while cutting 60 seconds off that time could save households £215million on their energy bills each year.