Heating: it may not be any colder than it was last winter

[IRememberXanadu]

There is so much talk about how we'll afford to heat our homes this winter. However, last year I didn't use CH much because despite working from home, I thought it'd make much more sense to layer up and use a heated throw, than heat up a whole house when I'm spending most of the day in the home office. In the evening I would take my heated throw to the living room while I watched TV and then off to bed.

I put the heating on a handful of times, and I'm not someone who is often hot. But I resented (in my eyes) wasting money to heat up empty rooms. I know a house needs to be heated to avoid damp issues and that's why I put the heating on a few times. Also, one of my neighbours was getting rid of a dehumidifier and I used that to ensure the place stayed dry.

I'm in the UK, btw, in the South. I'm thinking that if this coming winter it is not going to be much colder, we may be OK. Or is that just me and I am absolutely mad for not putting the heating on daily? Right now I haven't put it on yet - in fact I still have the back door fully open every day until I go to bed.

Im not quite sure what your point is. Your personal preference, lifestyle, home and the outside temperature didn’t require you to need the heating on much last year, so if that all remains the same then quite obviously you wont see such large bills as other people

Kinda.

Last winter was quite mild, I think, and the colder period was shorter than the year before that. This year may be the same, or may be worse.

But I think it fairly normal to not have the heating on yet. It's 20 degrees outside in the Midlands. It'll have to get several degrees colder yet before it goes on here

good for you

No heating on here either and I have the door open a bit during the day but actually today I found it a bit cold so shut the door and opened a window instead. Give it a few weeks and I think we will need the heating on. Not all day every day but something now and again.

I live in the SE. Grew up in the NW. Its several degrees temperature difference but more than that is the wet weather and wind in the NW which makes it feel much colder as well as being damp (not saying everywhere but where I grew up); temperature only tells one part of the story.

Get what you’re saying, but v dependent on where you live and individual circumstances. Whichever way whether you heat to 20 degrees in every room or hardly use CH at all, it’s more than you would have paid last year like for like.

Why are you heating empty rooms anyway? Turn the radiators off in them!

I'm also not sure what your post is about. Are you asking if your price will remain the same? Are you saying we as in everyone in the UK will be fine? Obviously if you don't use heating then your bills won't be high, but everyone's bills are going to be much increased this v last for even the same usage.

I do find the heating the whole house thing a little bizarre. We live in a country where we need aircon rather than heating and noone would dream of cooling the whole house! You shut all the doors and cool only the room that needs cooling, turn it off when you leave the room etc. I do wonder whether reverse aircon style heating units would be more efficient than central heating but it's not something I've ever looked into.

The BBC weather forecast said its 5 degrees above average today, but by Sunday we'll have average autumn temperatures.

Geography
Insulation
House Size
Weather

are such a major factors that it’s daft to make general assumptions.

Good for you. Surely a big part of being able to afford to heat our homes this winter was due to the proposed rise in the energy cap, which is now off the table?

Winters are definitely milder. Xmas eve two years ago I went for a walk late at night and it was so mild you could have slept naked on the beach. If we get a mild one this year, I might try and get through it in just jumpers and a portable heater.

Absolutely like-for-like usage bills will be higher. My point was just that maybe if the coming winter is not horribly cold, bills will not be as horrible as initially thought because we may not need to resort to using our CH as much as we thought we would.

I'm in a northern wet part of the uk.

I have a heated throw - it's 13 degrees and drizzle here right now.

I also have disabilities that mean I don't cope with the cold.

I'm dreading this winter.

Aren't dehumidifiers really expensive to run?

It's all well and good saying this if you live alone. But many don't and there are children to consider. Yes I'm making mine wrap up more. But the heating will still need to go on for a couple of hours a day for the kids.

Last year was the coldest I've ever felt, I spent most of winter in the house with the heating on and bundled up in woolly jumpers and thick socks. It's great you didn't get too cold and you can just throw on a jumper and be okay but the rest of us will get internal icicles without heating!

Apparently, last winter was the third mildest winter since 1910. I'm in the N.E and there were a few days around Christmas when it was mid teens - I can't remember which days - but it was distinct as we went out to the beach without needing winter coats.

I can't imagine we'd be so lucky to get such a mild winter again but, you never know. I'll be happy enough if we can get through it without a Beast from the East or, worst case, a 2008/9 winter.

Interesting. So it wasn't that I was just adapting well - it just wasn't very cold. That figures as I usually feel the cold more than most.

I wouldn't turn a radiator completely off, my parents did that and it burst, leaving us with no heating on a snowy day and the expense of a repair. Better to have radiators set 2-2.5 so a low heat flows through when it's really cold.

The weather app I follow shows temperatures will remain warmer than average here until third week Oct. Hop that's right as it'll give us an extra 2/3 weeks without being too cold.

There were cold bits but overall it was warm. Nye and nyd were the mildest ever on record.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/jan/03/why-has-uk-weather-been-so-mild-and-is-it-linked-to-climate-crisis