Most energy-saving advice assumes you own your home and can insulate the loft or replace the boiler. Renters are stuck with someone else's building and someone else's appliances, which feels like there is little to be done. In fact tenants have more levers than they think, between the free habits, cheap removable measures, and things the landlord can be asked or required to sort out.
Start with what costs nothing
The biggest savings need no permission and no spending, because they are about how you use the home rather than changing it. Set the thermostat a degree lower and time the heating to when you are actually in, turn down the radiator valves in rooms you do not use, wash clothes at thirty degrees and dry them on an airer rather than the dryer, boil only the water you need, and switch off the hungry standby devices. None of this touches the building, and together it makes a real dent whatever the state of the place.
Cheap, removable measures
You can improve a rented home temporarily with things you take with you when you leave. Removable draught excluders for doors, the cheap self-adhesive foam strips for window and door gaps, a chimney balloon in an unused fireplace, and heavy lined curtains all cut heat loss and come away cleanly. Shrink-fit window insulation film is an inexpensive winter fix for single-glazed windows and peels off in spring. A cylinder jacket, if there is an exposed hot-water tank, is cheap and you can take it with you. These are tenant-friendly because they leave no trace.
Take your lighting with you
If the place still has old halogen or incandescent bulbs, swap them for LEDs, which pay for themselves quickly through lower bills. Keep the original bulbs in a drawer and put them back when you move, taking your LEDs to the next place. It is one of the few efficiency improvements you can literally pack and carry, and it works in any rental.
Choose your own tariff
If you pay the energy bills directly and the account is in your name, you are usually free to switch supplier and tariff just as an owner would, which needs no landlord involvement and changes nothing physical. Make sure you are not languishing on an expensive default rate, submit regular meter readings so you are billed for what you use rather than an estimate, and compare on total annual cost as the switching guide sets out. This is often the single biggest saving available to a renter, because it sidesteps the building entirely.
What to ask the landlord for
Some improvements need the landlord, and many are in their interest too, since an efficient property is more lettable and protects the building. It is reasonable to ask for loft insulation to be topped up, draughty external doors and windows to be sorted, an ageing inefficient boiler to be replaced, and a hot-water cylinder to be properly insulated. Framing it around tenant comfort, lower running costs and avoiding damp and condensation, which insulation and ventilation help prevent, tends to land better than demands. Get agreement in writing before spending your own money on anything fixed.
Know the minimum standards
Rented homes are generally subject to minimum energy-efficiency standards, and a property below a certain energy rating may not legally be let in many cases. If you are in a cold, clearly inefficient home, it is worth checking the property's energy performance certificate, which a landlord must usually provide, and understanding the standards that apply where you live. A property that falls short can give you grounds to press for improvements. The exact rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time, so check the current local position rather than relying on a fixed figure, but the principle is that tenants are not entirely without protection here.