Lengthy showers are costing households in the East of England over £260 million a year

As the nation looks for ways to save, reducing the time we take to shower by just a few minutes could save households in the East of England a total of £260 million a year. 

New research from Anglian Water released today shows that the average Brit showers for eight minutes a day, three minutes longer than the recommended shower time, wasting around 12,045 litres a year. 

Across the East of England alone, cutting shower times to five minutes would save almost 200 million litres of water a day - the equivalent of leaving the tap running for 61 years. 
 
To help customers save money and water, Anglian Water has launched its ‘Shorter Shower Challenge’ to encourage customers to cut showers to just 5 minutes a day, helping to save each household an approximate 28,000 litres of water and over £100 in energy and water every year.  

As part of this campaign, the water company is offering free kits to help save water in the bathroom, a playlist of songs lasting 5 minutes max, and encouraging customers to take part in an interactive quiz to determine their most likely shower personality type. 
The water company has also released its top tips to help Brits shower more sustainably: 

Use a shower timer: You can order your free kit to get a digital shower timer or simply use your phone or any timer at home. 
Create a shower playlist: Use our ready-to-go playlist, packed with songs that are 5 minutes or shorter. Perfect for powering through a quick and efficient shower, saving water and energy.  
Think about your shower habits: If you like to multi-task in shower, like shave or clean, remember to turn the water off – don’t let wasted water, energy or money go down the drain.  
Adjust your water temperature: Remember to set the hot water temperature, on your combi boiler or hot water tank, to the level you want before turning on the shower, so you don’t waste a drop. 

With 12% of energy bills going to heating water, cutting showering time to five minutes could save the average household £56 a year on energy bills alone.  

For the third of Brits that shower for 10 minutes or more, halving their shower time could save each of them as much as £74 a year in water and energy bills. 

As a nation of multi-taskers, we’re using showering time to do a lot more than wash and scrub. More than a quarter of us (27%) admit to using those minutes to shave, whilst over a fifth (21%) choose to clean the shower whilst they clean themselves and a similar number (20%) admitting to relieving their bladder too.   

Despite almost two thirds of Brits (64%) stating that saving water is important to them, of the Brits polled, just one in eight correctly estimated that a five-minute shower uses 55 litres of water. 

A quarter of the Brits polled also thought that their daily shower is using just 20% of their daily water usage. This comes in stark contrast to the reality, with around 70% of the average person’s daily total water usage of 136 litres coming from the bathroom. 

Pete Holland, Anglian Water’s Director of Customer and Wholesale Services said: “We know this year is going to be tough for our customers, as the cost-of-living increases for us all. Our shorter shower challenge aims to raise awareness of water usage in the home and help show customers how they can save more money on their bills as well as helping the environment by using less water and energy.  

“We live in the driest part of the country, and we’re more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, like drought, than most other areas, so it makes sense to save water all the time. It’s why we invest millions every year fixing leaks, driving down leakage in our networks to world leading low levels and half as many leaks as any other water company, as well as planning for a drier future, because we know there’s going to be more people here, but fewer raindrops to go round. It’s also why we’re urging people save water where they can. 

“We’re encouraging all our customers to shower responsibly, which will not only save water and time, but carbon and money too.” 

Anglian Water also recently announced its largest-ever package of support for customers struggling with the cost-of-living with £135m worth of help available to an estimated 330,000 customers over the next year – the company’s largest ever support package and builds on a £65 million package announced for 2022. 
 
The water company encourages any customers who are struggling to contact them via its website, Twitter or Facebook accounts or calling the Extra Care Team directly on 0800 169 3630.