How are people who WFH managing their energy bills?

[confusedlots]

A few years ago most of us would be out at work all day, no heating on in our homes, no energy being used to heat up lunch etc, sitting in nice warm offices and using their electricity to make cups of tea etc. It seems like madness that in the cost of living crisis, that lots of people are expected to WFH, heating all those individual houses every day in this awfully cold weather, or else just freezing if you can't afford it.

Are people trying to get back into their offices to try to save money on heating their homes during the day? Or to stop them freezing if they can't afford to heat their homes?

I don't have a smart meter so in denial about the cost of my heating/electricity while I'm working from home part the week.

I save a bit without petrol costs/wear and tear on the car, convenience food on the go, work clothes/shoes make-up etc. I save money by not making impulse purchases when I'm out and about (can't do impulse buys online anymore because of the postage chaos!)

But the main thing is I can earn more as I can go for jobs that I wasn't near enough too previously and get to meetings etc with no cost.

For me it's worth it because I love hiding away at home part of the week and I feel less stressed working remotely.

My commute into office (London) would cost £25 a day on train fair, plus I would end up buying lunch. So overall I’m still much better off WFH.

I heat one small room with oil filled radiator and work there. I have cashmere joggers & sweaters (cheap from Vinted ) with merino wool base layers. I’m not cold.

When I do go into the office at the end of the week there are only the 3 other members of my team in and the rest of the office is totally empty. 80 other people could be working in there but they choose to wfh. The people in my team that are in the office at the start of the week say the same, other than the big boss who tends to come in on a Monday or Tuesday, no one else is in there benefiting from the heating!

I think the important thing here is probably, we could suck up heating (WFH) and transport (office) costs a few years ago. Now, we are all looking to shave pounds off our budgets here and there, and this sort of mental gymnastics is both boring yet essential.

Wow, you're lucky with your 19 degree home!
How is that achieved?

The £31 per day train fare I don't have to pay goes a long way to heating the house!

19 degrees without heating! Crikey. My house is 14 degrees when I get up in the morning.

Completely agree @underthemike

My house ever gets above about 16c even with the heating on full pelt. It's old and draughty.

I warm the room I'm in with a woodstove: currently burning free windfall. Or a small infra red heater that is surprisingly warming compared to electric use.

We just remind ourselves of the extraordinary amount of money we are saving on our commute
Him £165 per week now permanently wfh.
Me £40-£60 per week, depending on whether I do 2 or 3 days in the office.

We don't work from home but we are home all day, with the obvious heating, hot water, laptops and cooker/dishwasher etc (plus the children's PCs when they're home from school). Our general heating and electricity have gone up and up. Well over £100 per week now on electricity alone, which doesn't include the heating or hot water (oil fired boiler). Looking forward to the warmer weather!

I am so so cold but still prefer wfh - used to cost me £35 a day on the train + tube and lunch. I worked in the library a couple of days last week, for a change of scene and to take advantage of the free heat!

I'm working in an oodie, blanket, hat, fingerless gloves and snood. As is DH in another room. We have a fairly large house.
It's about 16/15 degrees.

Yes it's freezing, but I'm sure we'll cope!

Ours was 11° in the lounge this morning! 🥶🥶

To answer the question though, it would be £121 a month to get to my nearest city - where I worked pre-Covid - if I was working there. I'm quite happy to heat the house instead.

It's costing roughly £5 per day for me to have the heating on at 23 degress. Its expensive but cheaper than my previous commuting costs.

There's also how much you value your time to consider. I get back about 90 mins each day. I can take the kids to school every day and do bits of housework so it's not all left for us at the weekend.

I don't wfh (I'm just nosey and would like to so watching for ideas for if I ever escape teaching)

Dh reckons our house was 19 degrees downstairs Saturday without central heating (it's chillier upstairs I think)

No way am I putting the heating on during the day just for me. If it gets too cold that I can't feel my feet then I go to bed and put on an electric blanket and sit there. If it's not too cold that I can't feel my feet then an oodie, thermals and hat do. I can afford to put it on but would rather not.

WFH for about 10 years. This week has been the coldest yet.

It’s a 30’s semi which we pretty much demolished and rebuilt (while we still lived in it I might add, it was absolutely not a fun time!) and is very well insulated. Bedroom window and bathroom are always open, dc do open theirs sporadically for some fresh air too. Underfloor heating throughout the whole house, it heats the room evenly rather than radiators which never seemed to before we renovated. I only realise from reading here that 19 is seen as pretty warm without heating, it does seem chilly sometimes!

Heating costs us less than commuting.

Because heating is cheaper than my commuting costs.

I WFH 4 days a week and go into the office for one. Heating my home is still costing me less than my monthly parking at £85 per month and petrol costs £150-200. I can also make cheap lunches at home. So still very happy at home and now spend 2 hours a week commuting instead of 10!

I have a 12 minute cycle to work. I'm going in to the office more frequently, and I take my own butties!

I used to spend £250 a month on petrol and it was much cheaper then

I don’t have the heating on during the day. It’s ok. I sometimes wrap my legs in a blanket

9am Start work
10am Coffee
11am Put the tumble dryer on
12pm Hot lunch (usually leftovers)
1pm Hot shower
2pm Cup of tea
3pm Brisk walk
4pm Heating on for an hour