Ademe lists 37 tips to reduce your energy bills

Ademe frequently publishes “general public” guides aimed at informing consumers on the varied themes covered by the Agency. Among other things, she put online a publication in November providing advice, relevant in the current context, for “ reduce your water and energy bills »⁽¹⁾.

Orders of magnitude

A French household spent on average €3,551 on energy expenses in 2022⁽²⁾ : €1,808 for fuel and €1,744 for energy costs in housing (including 59.6% for electricity).

In a home, heating and hot water alone account for nearly 77% of energy consumption according to Ademe (66% for heating and 11% for domestic hot water).

On this subject, Ademe recalls the recommendations regarding temperature:

19°C in occupied living rooms (and 16-17°C when they are unoccupied);
17°C at night in your room at night and when it is unoccupied;
22°C in the bathroom while washing (and 16-17°C the rest of the time).

Reducing heating by 1°C can cause “ a 7% reduction in energy consumption » according to Ademe. The Agency recommends, on the basis of these indicative temperatures, to turn down the heating in the event of a short absence and when the outside temperature is milder and to put the heating in frost protection mode in the event of a prolonged absence.

Simple actions to reduce your consumption

Apart from the 2 recommendations above in terms of temperature, Ademe distills 35 other “ tips and tricks for saving money » energy that you find below⁽³⁾.

In living rooms (living room, bedrooms, etc.)

turn off the light when leaving a room;
close the doors to poorly heated rooms;
place bottoms of doors on those opening onto the cellar or the outside;
close the shutters at night (which results in up to 60% less heat loss through the windows);
install thick curtains and close them at night;
avoid covering radiators and hanging curtains in front of them;
purge the radiators regularly;
avoid electric or gas space heaters;
let in light to limit illumination;
avoid dark or thick lampshades;
prefer a fan to an air conditioner in summer (“ a class A mobile air conditioner with a power of 2.5 kW represents more than €130 for 1 month of use and can consume up to 2.5 times more than a fixed air conditioner and almost 30 times more than a fan », underlines Ademe);
do not leave devices charging overnight;
activate “power saving” mode on the computer and smartphone;
completely turn off the box before going to sleep;
completely turn off the computer, television and other devices when not in use;
plug several devices into a power strip with a switch to turn it off more easily;