A PLUMBER has revealed how a little-known trick to use when running your taps could help you to slash your energy bills.

TikTok user thesharmaniacs regularly shares his best hacks on the social media app where he has more than followers.

In a recent video, the plumber explained how households are pouring money down the drain by waiting for the hot tap to heat up.

It comes as energy bills soar to £, for the typical household meaning many will be worried they about their energy use.

The handyman runs a tap and puts a timer on his iPhone, showing how it took seconds for the water get warm.

He said: Many of you wash your hands with the hot tap, and by the time you ve finished, the water s still not warm.

As soon as you open your hot tap, the boiler comes on and it s heating up the water as it s going through.

If you re finished washing your hands after seconds - and you ve not felt any of the hot water being produced - you ve just wasted seconds worth of gas.

The plumber recommends washing your hands straight away, with soap, rather than waiting for the tap to heat up.

And some experts say that washing your hands with cold water and soap leaves hands just as clean as hot water.

According experts at Utilita, you also can cut your bills just by turning the hot water temperature down.

You don t need your hot water to be above C, and for every degree above that you re wasting £ a year.

First you need to check what kind of boiler you have - you can do this by looking at the operating manual.

If you have a combi boiler with an eco mode, make sure it s set to this as this will stop your water overheating.

One controls your central heating, which you can leave, and the other sets your hot water tap temperature.

Households with system or regular boilers can still turn down the temperature, but every control panel will vary.

Both of these systems include a water tank, so you ll also need to check the minimum heat requirements on the Health and Safety Executive website.

Hot water storage cylinders should store water at C or higher to prevent Legionella bacteria growing, which can make you sick.

You should always contact a qualified Gas Safe engineer if you are not confident in making changes, or if you have any concerns with your boiler.

Once you ve turned the temperature down, you can test it with a thermometer as it comes out of the tap.

A cheap way of putting on the heating is by only turning the radiators on in the rooms you are using.

How much you can save varies on a number of factors, such as how big your house is and what energy tariff you are on, for example.

But savvy saver Scott Dixon told The Sun he s saved £ from just turning the heating on in his lounge.

Putting foil behind your radiator could save you £ a year, according to British Gas engineer Joanna Flowers.

The payment is dished out by your energy supplier and is split across six discounts between October and March next year.

Households will receive a £ energy bill discount in October and November and a discount worth £ in December, January, February and March.

A £ one-off Pensioner Cost of Living Payment will be paid out to eight million households this month.

It will be given to those who already get the winter fuel payment - which is worth between £ and £ for those over the state pension age.

Millions of households are also in line to get the £ Warm Home Discount between December and March .

British Gas has recently confirmed that it ll pay its most vulnerable customers grants worth £ to help with sky-high bills.

There s also a one-off fuel voucher from your energy supplier if you re on a prepayment metre.

If you re in debt there are plenty of services you can take advantage of and they offer free and friendly advice on how to manage debt.

They can also help you take the next steps if you need a debt management plan DMP to tackle your debt or an Individual Voluntary Arrangement IVA. These are agreements for managing multiple debts.