Reduce your bills with our energy-saving tips

Winter energy bills are climbing across Australia - and for many households in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and southern New South Wales, heating is the single biggest driver of that cost.

The good news: you don't have to choose between warmth and affordability. With the right combination of heating technology, home management habits, and energy-aware decisions, you can stay genuinely comfortable this winter without watching your electricity meter spin.

Below are the most effective, up-to-date strategies - from low-cost quick wins to smarter heating choices that make a lasting difference.

1. Switch to LED Lighting — The Easiest Win

If you're still running incandescent or halogen bulbs in any room, this is the fastest payoff available. LEDs use around 75–80% less energy and last significantly longer - the Australian Government has been phasing out inefficient lighting for years, and the market has followed.

It's a one-time cost that reduces your baseline load every day, not just in winter. Start with the rooms you use most: living areas, kitchen, bathroom.

2. Change Your Appliance Habits

Your white goods and standby devices add up across a winter month. A few consistent habits make a measurable difference:

• Turn off lights when leaving a room - automatic, not optional.
  
  
• Unplug devices on standby. TVs, game consoles, and phone chargers all draw power at rest.
  
  
• If you're on a time-of-use tariff, run your dishwasher and washing machine during off-peak hours - typically late evening or early morning. Check your plan details with your provider.

These aren't dramatic savings in isolation, but across a full season they contribute meaningfully to a lower bill.

3. Improve Insulation — Even in a Rental

Heat loss through gaps, windows, and doors is the hidden drain on heating costs — especially in older Federation or weatherboard homes that predate modern insulation standards.

If you own your home, ceiling and wall insulation will pay back over multiple seasons. If you're renting and can't make structural changes, you still have options:

• Fit draught excluders to doors (removable, no damage to property).
  
  
• Use heavy lined curtains or thermal blinds on windows — a significant amount of heat escapes through glass.
  
  
• Place rugs on timber and tiled floors - bare floors draw warmth downward and make rooms feel colder than they are.

These measures don't just reduce bills - they make heating systems work less hard to reach comfortable temperatures.

4. Choose the Right Heating System — This Is Where the Biggest Savings Come From

Lighting and insulation matter, but heating is responsible for the majority of winter energy consumption. The type of heater you use - and how you use it - determines the shape of your bill.

Why Far Infrared Heating Is Different

Traditional heaters - fan heaters, bar heaters, and even most split-system reverse-cycle units - work by warming the air. Warm air rises to the ceiling. Open a door or window and it escapes. The heater runs continuously trying to replace what's lost.

Far infrared (FIR) panel heaters work differently. They emit long-wave infrared radiation that travels directly to people, furniture, walls, and floors - the solid objects in your room. Those objects then radiate warmth back into the space from all directions.

The practical effect: the room itself becomes a heat source. Once the thermal mass is warmed, the panel only needs to cycle on briefly to maintain temperature, drawing power for a fraction of the time a convection heater would.

Thermisia's far infrared panels are designed specifically for the Australian market — supplied with AU plug as standard, available in portable, wall-mounted, bathroom-rated, and outdoor configurations.

5. Use a Smart Thermostat — Don't Heat an Empty Room

A programmable thermostat prevents the most common source of wasted energy: heating rooms that don't need it, at times when no one is home.

Thermisia's WiFi-enabled panels connect to the SmartLife app, giving you full scheduling, remote on/off, and temperature programming from your phone. For non-WiFi models, plug-in thermostat accessories are available.

Practical settings to use:

• Set a lower overnight temperature in bedrooms - warmth from thermal mass keeps rooms comfortable without running continuously.
  
  
• Use schedules to pre-warm rooms before you wake up or arrive home, so the heater isn't running when you don't need it.
  
  
• Zone heating: only heat rooms in active use. Far infrared is particularly suited to this because it warms a room quickly and retains heat in walls and floors.

A Final Word on Energy Saving

Energy tariffs across Australia continue to rise, and the gap between efficient and inefficient heating choices is getting wider every season. The tips above aren't about being cold - they're about being deliberate. LED lighting, draught-proofing, smart scheduling, and choosing a heater that works with your home's thermal properties rather than against them.

For Australian homes - particularly older homes that were never built with heating in mind — far infrared heating isn't just the most efficient option available today. It's the one that actually suits the way those homes are built.