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I pay monthly and submit a reading to British Gas online once a month. I'm on British Gas' online tariff for both gas and electricity. The £188 bill is for both. I feel sick. I'm at home all day with two DC's so I do have the central heating on, but good grief! This bill was from early Dec to early Jan.

Need tips on how to reduce bill and just need to tell someone!

how long do you have the heating on for and what temperature?

Oh dear, what a shock.

I have saved loads by not having any heating on at all during the day. The house is cold but while you're moving doing housework etc, not uncomfortably, so provided you're actually dressed for winter (I think we've forgotten how to do that and most of us dress much the same all year round)

When my DCs were small we used to go to at least one group per day, so were often not home in the mornings anyway.

In the evenings, thermostat is set at 18 degrees. Again a bit chillier that you're probably used to, but you get used to it quickly (and I have lovely sheepskin slippers!)

I would think this was about right if you are at home all day. Can you wear more clothing and go out for walks, to the library, visit other people etc so that you don't need to have the hetaing on all day ?

Heating is on for about 6 hours a day, not constant but I do stop start it. Have it about 21 degrees.

Ours is more than that and we only have it on all day at the weekend. We did have it n a lot over the holidays thou as we were all at home

21 degrees is pretty darn warm. Could you try putting it down to 18 for a spell?

ours is normally around 18/19 degrees so you could try lowering your thermostat a little and see if that helps you to save a bit more

I pay monthly direct debit and mine is 80 elec and 84 gas, so 164 for both, every month. right throughout the year. This means that I use more than this in the winter months because when i don't use much gas in the summer if any, I still need to pay the 164 to make up what I use in winter.

I've just fitted that draft excluding stuff to all our windows - it comes in a pack a bit like clingfilm and you just tape it to the window and use a hairdrier to make it all go tight and invisible. Takes about 20 mins per window and each pack costs £7.99 from Homebase and does about 4 windows.

It's made a HUGE difference to our drafty windows, but you can use it to improve the insulation even if you already have double glazing. Is should last a few years unless you have to fit it in such a way it stops you opening the window (in which case you might want to re-do it each year)

21 degrees is high for your heating though. We have ours at 18 and have blankets and a duvet that kick around on the couches to keep everyone warm when sitting around. You might be better off turning it down a bit and maybe using a fan heater just in one room in the evenings.

I don't know what temperature our heating is at, but it comes on twice a day, early morning & tea-time, for an hour each time. The house never drops below 16, mostly not below 18 - we are lucky, I think as we are in a mid-terrace, so it is naturally a warm house. We have just amended our DD with Npower to £75/month for both, as we were paying £101/month & were hugely in credit. We don't have a tumble drier & I am very careful about switching off lights & other things at sockets.

Also agree with advice to get out lots - I have 2 pre-schoolers, but we are probably only home for a half of each day, at the most!

What you have to look at is:

Insulation. An un-insulted home is a nightmare to keep warm. We have hard flooring so I have draught excluders at the doors, loft hatches sometimes get forgotten, I lined the curtains with fleece and thermal curtain liners.

The efficiency of the boiler.

Personal habits, mil drives me bonkers leaving all the doors open and then complaining she's cold. I wear thermal long sleeved tops and long johns because they stop me feeling the cold too much. She heats the whole house but mainly stays in three rooms all day. We turn all the lights off, we run the machines on the cycles that cost least, I don't use the quickwash facilities on the washer or the dishwasher. It's little savings that add up.

If you have a hot water tank check the thermostat on it, ours was set to 75c but I moved it to 60c. Any more is a waste of electric, plus I only run the water for 20mins to heat a tank. I ordered tap and shower inserts off my water board, they are free from a lot of them but they stop you wasting water.

The billing structure, if you don't have a standing charge you usually pay more per unit for the first 600 units, 1m square of gas on my meter is 10 kwh of gas. 33p on my bill but on mil bill that would be 85p, it's the same with electric. Primary units can be 23p but secondary are charged at 11p.

Ive been investigating similar in anticipation of house move (to a much older house) the Energy Saving Trust website has loads of hints/tips. Grants available too, even if in employment which I didnt know ...

21 degrees is much warmer than you need BetteDavis. I never have mine on at more than 18 and that's usually on for a couple of hours in the morning and 3 or 4 at night. If I have to have it on during the day, I set it at 16.

That's overall heating of course. Turn the heating down right away and supplement the odd room if you're in it for an hour or two - eg maybe put on a gas fire for an hour or two. Or - if you have individual thermostats on the radiators - maybe leave it at 18 and turn down the thermostats in rooms you're not going to be using and shut the doors on them.

It will likely feel a little cold at first but you'll quickly adjust. And much of it is behaviour eg get the DCs to wear jumpers or fleeces and in the evening, get them into a dressing gown directly after bath - rather than running around in just their PJs. That sort of thing. You'll save large amounts by just that turning down a few degrees.

Thank you everyone, some really useful advice here.

I am at home at the moment. I let the heating go off in the day as usual and am either moving about, or if I sit down to watch tv or go on MN I just put a big fleecy blanket over me.

I pay on receipt of bill and last month it was £130 and this month £131. For both G and E. So not far off you really. Heating is on two hours in a morning but not heated during the day unless someone in. It comes on about five thirty to about nine -ten in this colder weather. I don't try to use the tumble dryer if I can help it and keep the radiators/ boiler as low as possible

I have my heating on 24/7 and at 22c. My bill has only been coming at £125 for both per month