{"id":613246,"date":"2026-09-03T15:24:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T15:24:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613246\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T15:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T15:24:14","slug":"conor-popes-tips-for-saving-money-at-home-this-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/613246\/","title":{"rendered":"Conor Pope’s tips for saving money at home this winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Conor Pope, Consumer Affairs Correspondent with The Irish Times, joined Oliver Callan on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 to discuss taking the sting out of winter bills. Listen back above.<\/p>\n

“Generally speaking, winter is very expensive,” says Pope, explaining that heating and lighting our homes in the colder, darker months adds up.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the need to tumble dry clothes can be a big expense, alongside buying warmer clothing, extra food, and saving up for Christmas presents.<\/p>\n

“I’ve done the maths, and I reckon that winter time costs about \u20ac10,000 more for the average household than summer time,” he states. “That’s not even being wildly extravagant.”<\/p>\n

\"Pair<\/p>\n

The first step in bringing those costs down? Shopping around for an electricity provider.<\/p>\n

“The reality is that more than 70% of Irish consumers don’t switch their energy provider,” the savvy saver explains, “despite the fact that, even in a climate of rising prices, you can still knock about \u20ac500 off your annual bill – just by moving from company A to company B.”<\/p>\n

Many people will avoid switching because it feels like too much hassle, but Pope insists that sites like Bonkers.ie and Switcher.ie make it incredibly straightforward.<\/p>\n

Once you’ve switched, you can save even more money by being more conscious of your energy use: avoid using the tumble dryer, turn lights off as you leave a room, and stick on a jumper when you feel a small chill.<\/p>\n

“If you were to lower your thermostat by one degree, your energy bill will fall by 5 or 10%,” he explains.<\/p>\n

Other suggestions include: only running the washing machine and dishwasher when they are full, running these machines on eco-settings, and reducing time spent in the shower.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

If your home has oil heating, Pope warns that “chronically” rising costs will be felt this winter.<\/p>\n

“In January of this year, 500 litres of home heating oil was costing about \u20ac400,” he states. “Today, 500 litres of home heating oil is costing about \u20ac650.”<\/p>\n

Musing on Ireland’s upcoming October budget, global politics, and the long-term realities of relying on fossil fuels, the Consumer Affairs Correspondent says that “somebody has to make some pretty hard decisions”.<\/p>\n

Another winter cost that may take people by surprise is health insurance; for most people, policies will come up for renewal in January, February, and March.<\/p>\n

“There is big savings to be made by shopping around and switching insurance providers,” says Pope.<\/p>\n

\"Woman<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, unlike switching energy providers, switching insurance can be a complicated task to take on.<\/p>\n

“There’s a real difference between policies, and it’s a really complicated market,” he explains, noting that the vast majority of people in Ireland will stick with whatever company they first signed up with.<\/p>\n

Although it’s an effort, Pope insists that there are hundreds, if not thousands, of euros to be saved: “To all your listeners, I guarantee, if they haven’t switched health insurance providers in the last three years, and they do make the switch, they’ll save money.”<\/p>\n

For more money-saving tips and advice for speaking with your health insurers, listen back to the full segment above.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Conor Pope, Consumer Affairs Correspondent with The Irish Times, joined Oliver Callan on RT\u00c9 Radio 1 to discuss…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":613247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[72,176,61,60,174,175],"class_list":["post-613246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}