Baby boomers may be more likely to hire domestic energy assessors to help cut their energy consumption and costs.

A new survey reveals that over-55s are 25 per cent more likely to improve their energy efficiency to cut their monthly bills, compared to under-25s.

Baby boomers, who have been through recessions and grew up in the aftermath of a world war, are familiar with taking small cost cutting steps.

Almost nine out of every ten of the over-55s surveyed said that they had swapped their home's lighting to energy saving bulbs, while two thirds of the younger generation said they were in the process of switching.

The survey also revealed that under-25s were more likely to misunderstand energy efficiency and think it implies increasing running costs, when it is, in fact, the opposite.

Louise Boland, director of the firm that carried out the survey, Opus Energy, said: "It's clear that having lived through two recessions, our older generations are more adept at taking steps to save on their energy usage to cut their bills.

"What is interesting is that the older generations have really embraced the energy saving benefits of modern technology, to an even greater degree than their younger counterparts."

With homes amounting for a significant portion of the UK's carbon emissions, various programmes are in place to make them more efficient, such as schemes to install loft insulation and cavity wall insulation.