Submitted by Bill Fernie
18th July 2026
Living in Caithness means living with long winters, short daylight hours, older houses, electric showers, immersion heaters, and the constant background hum of energy costs. Over recent months I’ve been running a personal experiment: how far can I push down my daily electricity bill through simple behavioural changes — the kind anyone in the Highlands could adopt without spending a penny.
This wasn’t theory. I wanted to see what actually works, what doesn’t, and what difference it makes to the numbers on my Octopus dashboard. The results have been far better than I expected.
The habits I changed
I didn’t buy gadgets or smart tech. I changed behaviour:
Cold‑water dishwashing — avoiding hot water unless absolutely necessary.
Boiling only what I need — one mug of water in the kettle, not half a litre.
Switching off everything possible — no standby loads humming away.
Timing my showers — cutting the duration of the most expensive appliance in the house.
Lowering the thermostat on the hot‑water tank — it was far hotter than anything I ever needed.
Using a sensor‑activated hall light — because in Caithness winter, lights can be on from 4pm until after midnight.
General vigilance — noticing small wasteful habits and eliminating them.
None of these are dramatic. But together they form a consistent pattern:
stop heating or lighting things unnecessarily.
The summer result: a dramatically lower daily bill
Tracking my usage on Octopus, I’ve brought my daily electricity cost down to around £2.10/day, including standing charge. That’s unusually low for a rural Highland home — more like the usage of a small flat.
This isn’t because Caithness suddenly turned tropical. It’s because these habits target the most expensive parts of electricity use:
heating water
heating air
heating metal
lighting for long hours
Anything that produces heat or runs for hours is a cost monster. My changes cut those loads sharply.
Why this matters for Caithness households
Most homes here rely on:
electric showers
immersion heaters
older wiring and appliances
long heating seasons
poor insulation compared to modern builds
lights running for 8–10 hours a day in winter darkness
So behavioural change has a bigger impact here than in cities with gas boilers and newer housing stock. What I’ve done is directly relevant to the way people actually live in the far north.
This isn’t “green advice” or “smart home optimisation.”
It’s rural realism.
Winter will change the picture — but the habits still help
I’m under no illusions: Caithness winters are long, dark, and cold. Even with these habits, my usage will likely double or triple in winter. That’s normal.
But here’s the key point:
These habits will blunt the winter rise, even if they can’t eliminate it.
Shorter showers, lower hot water tank temperature, careful kettle use, sensor lighting, and switching off devices will still reduce the baseline load. Winter will be expensive — but less expensive than it would have been.
Why I’m doing this
Partly curiosity.
Partly wanting to understand what advice is actually worth giving to readers.
Partly wanting to test what’s realistic for rural households who don’t have the luxury of gas heating or modern insulation.
But mostly because I want to be able to say:
“I made these changes — and here’s the money result.”
Not theory.
Not government leaflets.
Actual numbers from an actual Caithness home.
What comes next
I’ll keep tracking my usage as we move into autumn and winter. That will give me a clear before‑and‑after comparison:
Summer baseline
Winter baseline
Winter with behavioural changes
And when the numbers settle, I’ll publish the results so readers can see exactly what difference these habits make in a real rural setting.
I hope my home trial makes you think about your own small changes you can make to reduce your energy bills. We may never go back to cheap energy so if you want to save for years to come think about it.
Bill Fernie