Home energy

What your energy bill is made of and how to lower it, when a heat pump, solar panels or a home battery pay off, which incentives apply where you live, and which smart devices save energy rather than just measure it.

The section has its own RSS feed. Jump to: Start here · Heat pumps · Boilers, stoves and air conditioning · Bills & tariffs · Incentives

A rainbow over a suburban neighbourhood of tiled roofs, several of them covered with solar panels

Photo: Lara John / Unsplash

New to this? Start with Home energy: the complete guide to spending less.

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1 guide

The complete guide to spending less on energy at home, and where to begin for your kind of home.

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Home energy: the complete guide to spending less

Where a home's energy goes, where to start for your kind of home, and when heat pumps, new boilers, tariffs and solar pay off, with official figures.

Published November 1, 2026 · 17 min read

Heat pumps

4 guides

How a heat pump heats a home, what it costs to buy and to run, and when it beats a gas boiler.

Boilers, stoves and air conditioning

1 guide

Gas boilers, pellet stoves and air conditioners: what they cost to run and when to replace them.

Bills & tariffs

2 guides

Reading an energy bill, fixed and variable prices, time-of-use tariffs and when switching supplier pays off.

Incentives

1 guide

Grants, tax credits and bonuses for heat pumps, solar and insulation, country by country, with the dates that matter.

Related terms in the glossary

All terms
  • Smart meterA utility meter for electricity, gas, water or heat that records consumption at intervals and reports it over a network, enabling remote reading and demand-side services.
  • Smart gridAn electricity network that uses sensing, communication and control to balance supply and demand, integrate distributed generation and detect faults automatically.
  • Demand responsePrograms that reward electricity consumers for reducing or shifting their consumption when the grid is under stress, using signals sent to connected equipment.
  • Energy management system (EMS)Software that monitors, analyzes and controls energy use across a site, building or grid segment, often coordinating generation, storage and flexible loads.
  • Home AssistantAn open-source home automation platform that runs locally, integrates thousands of devices and services, and keeps control and data inside the home.
  • MatterAn open smart home application standard, maintained by the Connectivity Standards Alliance, that lets devices from different brands work with any compatible controller over IP.