Annual cost of hot baths expected to soar to £1,023 this year due to sharp increase of gas and electricity prices according to Yorkshire Water

The increase of gas and electricity prices has led to rising costs of hot baths, research has found, and the water company says that as well as environmental benefits, significant annual savings can be made by homeowners altering their water habits.

Yorkshire Water’s ‘Teapot Index’ calculates the energy costs associated with heating water in different domestic scenarios, including how this changed dramatically over the last decade and predictions for 2023.

Running a bath is the most expensive domestic use of water, costing £542.88 in 2022, a 79 per cent increase since 2021 (£303.70). Following closely behind is using a dishwasher, with a price of £236.60 last year, an increase from £132.68 in 2021, and a washing machine, which costs £222.77 in 2022, an annual increase of 95 per cent.

A task as simple as filling up a kettle for a cup of tea can result in a bill increase, costing £18.69 to boil your kettle and make a brew in 2022, compared with £10.37 in 2021 (an 80 per cent increase).

These costs are expected to rise by an average of 18 per cent in 2023, while the cost of running a bath is predicted to skyrocket to nearly double the cost this year, coming in at an eye-watering £1,023.36.

As the costs begin to increase, Yorkshire Water advises making small changes to save money, potentially saving families £700 a year. Instead of having an eight-minute shower, cut this in half to four minutes. The average household will have 754 showers a year, and if they are all eight-minute showers, this is costing £256.36. By having four-minute showers instead, you could save £128.18 on showers a year.

The average British person has three baths a week, which costs the average household £542.88 a year. Decreasing to one bath a week could save you up to £361.92, or by switching from three baths to five showers a week, families could see savings of up to £189.28.

Also make sure that both your washing machine and dishwasher are full before putting a load on, at 47.6p and 91p per load respectively, as you don’t want to be wasting them.

The average UK family of four does eight to 10 loads of washing a week and if they are all only half or two-thirds full, you could cut this number down to between four and seven loads, saving you anywhere from £66.01 up to £123.76 a year.

Emily Brady from Yorkshire Water said: “Managing water use in the home is a great way to keep bills down. The environmental benefits to saving water are well known, but there are also great cost savings to reducing your usage - especially when it comes to heating water.

“The findings from our Teapot Index clearly show that you can make a difference to how much you spend. Whether that’s only putting your washing on when it’s full, or spending less time in the shower, if each household could make a few small changes, they could save a fortune annually. We’ve even created our very own four-minute shower playlist.

“We appreciate that the increased cost of living means a lot of people are worrying about their bills. To help our millions of customers across Yorkshire, we offer free immediate short term and longer term schemes to help with water bills, including our WaterSure bill cap and Community Trust debt support schemes for low-income households and customers who are struggling with debts.

“We don’t want anyone worrying about paying for water that they need, which is why we are encouraging a ‘swap don’t stop’ approach to making small changes to your habits around the home that really can make a noticeable impact on your bill.”