UK households who have dishwasher handed £63 each for stopping two habits

-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


UK households who have a dishwasher could be handed £63 each, according to a leading energy firm. A fifth of UK dishwasher owners admit to half loading their dishwasher, costing an extra £38.84 a year - £116m across all households

7 in 10 households don’t use their dishwasher’s ‘eco mode’ which cuts running costs by £24.30 a year - £55m across all households, Utilita has found. Both habits cost the planet, too - the water wasted is equivalent to 94m baths, Utilisa said.

The energy wasted generates as much carbon emissions as a diesel car driving around the equator 20,000 times each year. Utilita has revealed two simple tweaks that can save the pocket and the planet, starting today.

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The costliest of the two bad habits is turning the dishwasher on when it’s only half full, which 21 percent of dishwasher owners are guilty of. This habit costs 75p a week, or £38.84 a year - £116m across all households.

Second up are the settings households use when turning on their dishwasher. 73 percent of households admit to not using ‘eco mode’. By not using economy mode, households are missing out on 47p a week or £24.30 a year - £55m across all households.

Households that do both - half fill and choose power-intensive settings - are throwing away £63.14 a year. Ella Jones, Sustainability Manager at Utilita Energy comments on the latest energy-saving study: “We are all creatures of habit when it comes to our home behaviours, but by revealing the cost and environmental savings, we hope to help people make better informed decisions.

“Our latest dishwasher study has revealed that 75% of people who use a dishwasher haven’t read the manufacturer instructions, which explain the energy and water savings associated with eco mode. Watching a video on how best to stack the dishwasher you own can also be eye-opening, enabling you to get more in, or better results, each time.”