Further, these reports will suggest cost-effective measures to improve energy efficiency.'The switch was so simple'Shirine Elwakil, 21, a hairdresser from Croydon, south London, has cut her bills by around £200 a year after switching supplier.Before changing, she was paying £100 a month in total to have her gas supplied by British Gas and her electricity by Seeboard Energy."My boyfriend and I had moved into a two-bedroom flat and we were a bit careless as we hadn't even thought about how much the bills might cost," she says.When Shirine contacted SimplySwitch with details of her existing bills, staff recommended that she opt for a dual-fuel deal with Atlantic Electric & Gas.By doing so, she was able to make her saving of some £200 a year."The switching process was so simple," she explains."It only takes around a month for the whole process to be completed.". In essence, the responsibility for carrying out surveys is passing from the buyer to the seller.An important part of the HIP will be the Home Condition Report, which will provide impartial and reliable information on a property's energy efficiency and detail issues such as levels of thermal insulation and types of heating system. Filling your cavity walls could shave a fifth off your property's energy use - saving you up to £120 a year.You could also take a third off heating costs by replacing your boiler with a high-efficiency condensing model, and another £20 off your energy bills by fitting an insulating jacket on your hot water tank.If you use a light for more than four hours a day, replace your bulbs with energy-saving models - for an annual saving of £7.Government and local authority grants are available to homeowners to help make these changes; contact the EST for more details.From January 2007, anyone wanting to sell their house will be legally required to compile a Home Information Pack (HIP), containing key information about a property's condition. People on pre-payment meters could save up to £101 using direct debit.Another way of cutting costs is to improve the energy efficiency of your home.The Energy Saving Trust (EST) has launched a new campaign called "Save your 20 per cent" - encouraging households to cut down on emissions, help the environment and save themselves up to £250.The EST says you could save a quarter of your home's energy use - and between £140 and £170 every year - by insulating your loft. If you are paying by cheque every quarter, you could save up to £67 a year by moving to direct debit - and even more if you switch to an online account, according to consumer group Energywatch. Once you have made the decision to switch, your details will be forwarded to your chosen supplier; the whole process should take no more than six weeks.Consumers who are concerned that their gas or electricity supply might be interrupted during the switch should not worry: households keep the same pipes, circuits, wires and safety coverage.You can also reduce the amount you pay by changing the way you settle your bills.

Simply type in your postcode, and how much your gas and electricity currently cost, and the website then comes up with a range of cheaper alternatives. "This is not linked to a current account, so it's open to everybody.". You may have enjoyed an extra hour in bed this morning, but now that British Summer Time has ended, you need to get ready for chilly days and long nights. According to predictions from the Met Office, we could be in for the coldest winter in a decade. However, while temperatures may be about to plummet, energy prices are not. So before you turn up the heating, check you're not paying over the odds to stay warm. Many energy providers have raised their prices in the past few months. "While you do have to open an A&L current account, this has been a market leader for some time, so it's win-win."The next highest-paying regular saver account is HSBC's, at 8 per cent.

But Ms Bowes warns that you must have a linked current account - which pays a miserly 0.1 per cent."The Halifax regular saver, paying 7 per cent, is more straightforward," she adds. At this point, the savings, plus interest accrued, will be moved into the linked current account.The Premier Direct internet-based account pays 5 per cent on balances of up to £2,500, while Premier offers just 1.5 per cent on balances up to £2,500.If a customer saved the full £3,000, he or she would earn £150 before tax; interest is calculated daily rather than on the full sum invested over the year.Despite the drawbacks, Stuart Glendinning, from the price- comparison website money-supermarket , says A&L is offering a "good double act"on current and savings accounts that is well ahead of rival deals."A&L now has an attractive rate for balances in credit, a 0 per cent overdraft for 12 months, plus a regular saver with a fantastic headline rate of 10 per cent." He says this should act as a "real call to action" to those who bank with the big four to switch.He adds, though, that it is a shame this offer is available only for a month - and that thousands of people who have opened an A&L account in the past few years won't benefit."This is a big headline rate," adds Anna Bowes at independent financial adviser Chase de Vere. Existing A&L customers who open the regular saver will earn just 4.5 per cent.Further, the rate - for all savers - will last only one year. But Alliance & Leicester turned heads last week when it announced it was launching a regular savings account paying more than double this rate - 10 per cent, before tax. Customers who open the account, due to launch tomorrow, must pay in monthly deposits of between £10 and £250 for a year, and make no withdrawals.While the headline rate looks good, however, there is a catch: the deal is available only to new customers opening the bank's Premier or Premier Direct current account - and who do so in November. "Just buying low-energy light bulbs can make a difference - you don't have to go as far as we have," he says.Top ten tips for energy efficiency and reducing your billsMake sure your home is properly insulated - install double-glazed windows and eliminate drafts where possible. Any grant, however, will cut the cost of making home improvements that will save money in the long term.For the more serious, committing to larger-scale measures to make the most of renewable energy, such as installing solar panels or putting up your own wind turbine, can save hundreds of pounds over the long term, as well avoiding tonnes of carbon dioxide output every year.For instance, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, which convert sunlight into electricity, could over a year provide a household with 30 to 50 per cent of its entire electricity needs.Solar PV is suitable for both urban and rural environments - it doesn't need brilliant sunshine to operate - and a system to supply a proportion of energy for an average home can cost as little as £4,000.Wind turbines are best erected high up, on a mast or tower.