RANT. Five hundred fucking quid for one month energy and a husband who keeps putting the fucking heating on.

[IncompleteSenten]

£477 and some change. This month's gas and electric bill. It's normally up to fifty quid either side of 300 which is bad enough but this one fucking hurt! Yes this is each month, not quarter. Month. 31 days. For a little 3 bed semi.

My husband puts the heating on if you so much as blow in his fucking face. I've been begging him to put a fucking jumper on. I keep turning the heating off. He turns it back on.

I submitted the meter readings on the 1st as always and this month's bill is as above. Nearly 500 quid. I nearly cried. I finally got him to agree that we have to reduce our usage and to keep the heating off during the day after we got this bill. We've agreed it before after bills at the top end of 350 yet somehow it goes back to oh it was cold, oh the cat was cold, oh just for an hour... Then before I know it, the heating's back on to 30 all day and night .

I've bought everyone thermal long johns, furry slippers and those big blankets that are jumpers with hoods.

I turned the heating off this morning and he turned the fucker back on because - and I quote - "it's a bit cold".

Yes it's a bit cold, arseface. Put an extra layer on 🤬 and fucking deal with it!

I'll calm down of course but right now I'm so angry that my stomach feels like it's on fire. Yes I can pay it, we're very lucky in that respect I know. It's not that I can't find five hundred quid from anywhere, I can do some jiggery pokery and sort it, it's that I've got to pull five hundred quid out of my arse because mr neshbastard refuses to deal with a bit of a chill.

10 degrees outside doesn't mean 10 inside as long as it's insulated and people are living there with body heat, cooking heat etc. Only if it was a tent!

Max we have ours on is 21 . But don’t keep switching it on and off as that’s false economy . Keep it at one temp if you are disabled and at home all day . He must wear jumpers , lined joggers etc if he is cold .

That’s insane! Ours is £205 a month for a 4 bed detached house with 3 living rooms. I feel the cold and wfh 2-3 days a week so we have heating on a lot and have 3 teen daughters so there’s also lots of showers happening.

My DH is also East African and likes a warm house, but 30 is bonkers! Ours stays at 20 usually, so he never gets cold. If he's feeling cold at 30, get him to the GP, that's not normal.

That's a lot of money.

Can you look at balancing the heating system? I live in quite a large house and I turn off the radiators in the bedrooms that aren't being used when my kids are at uni.

I also have it set so it keeps the rooms I am mostly in (living toom) warm and kitchen and dining room less so.

If he is from Africa this is a cold country however if he came over in 1991 he should have adjusted a bit.

What is the insulation like on your house? It does sound like it needs a lot of energy to keep it warm even with the thermostat set at 30. Can you insulate the loft etc?

30 degrees is insanely high. Not surprised at the bill.

I have mine at 16 all day, 20 for 2 hours morning and evening and my bill was £215 last month.

30oc!! Thats a bit warm.

I know he won't go to the DR - but his chills/shivers and not being warm could be thyroid or diabetes related and may help to have his bloods tested. Sometimes with my DH I have to say I'm getting the test and then joins in.

Good luck and rant away.

30? That's a typo surely. Do you mean 20? We have ours at 17. It comes on in the morning for a bit and then only again in evening if it's properly cold. We light the fire instead so it's cosy in the lounge. I have sheepskin slippers, thermal base layers and wool jumpers. I'm actually a bit too warm right now.

Which energy company are you with? We’ve got 5 bedrooms and pay £650 a month!! ( which hurts)
however I can’t function in a cold house so I consider it an essential!

That’s a seriously high bill.

Id be cutting back on whatever he enjoys that costs money to pay for it.

I get that he may feel the cold more, but he needs to learn to wear more clothes. One of my friends is from a hot country, he’s been in the UK 20 years and not adjusted. But he wears more and more layers, he doesn’t spend £500/month on heating!

and yes, it definitely sounds like he needs to go to the GP. If he wants his caring role for all of you to be taken seriously enough for him not to work, he should take it seriously enough to stay well.

He sounds incredibly selfish tbh

I feel you! I had the same bill!

It's honestly really depressed me.

I don't have a husband who puts the heating on high; I do have an electric aga that I've used a tiny bit more than usual and I don't have the heating on crazy hot or often - 20 tops.

I washed the floors today and an hour later when I came back, they were still wet so i relented and put the effing heating on. Clothes dry incredibly slowly too.

I sympathise. I also don't know what to do.

Buy him a greenhouse to move in to

He doesn't sound selfish to me. People feel temperatures differently. I am mixed race and always colder than DH. My sister is the same.
I am comfortable with a temperature of around 23 - 24. I would be freezing with a temperature of 20.

Also £134 per month for G&E for a 3 bed detached!

It's the coldest part of the year why do you get to dictate the heating? Yes he should wear socks trousers and jumpers in the winter but I like to be able to move around my house personally, not have to stay in one place shivering under an electric blanket.

30° is high, even for a cold-blooded wuss like me. I know you put it down to his African origins but, what with the other minor issues you mentioned, @IncompleteSenten, I'm thinking he may have a thyroid deficiency? Before I got a prescription, I was belting my heating up to 25° with a jumper and boots on. And my deficiency was borderline!

It's really okay to get this checked - you can even buy the test online for £30 if he wants to see before contacting his GP. Low thyroid makes you cold, tired, fat and miserable but, long term, it destroys organs & tissues; it can make you blind. Considering the treatment's just a pill with no side effects, it's a no-brainer.

I the meantime, don't keep turning the heating off. That's just going to make him cold so he'll want more warming. Try at least varying it between 20 and 30, maybe?

I keep meaning to tell you how much I like your username 😄

I have the heating on all day when I'm at home but to 18 degrees. I wear so many layers to keep warm. I couldn't not have the heating on. It snowed all day yesterday and was minus one most of the day. I don't think a jumper will do much.

Mine is similar . I cannot stand being cold and no amount of extra sweaters compensates for a bloody freezing house .
I just except these are the most expensive months of the year and poke up with it .

30 degrees is ridiculous though and OP should get a say since their bill is nearly £500!

I thought I liked it warm at 21 during the day (less at night) but 30 is ridiculous. It must feel really stuffy and horrible at that temp and then you’ve got the pleasure of paying for that. I’d be mad too.

Can you get a hive type system and not give him access to the control app?
It's really insane to have the heating on 24/7 and at such a high temperature as you very well know.

with a voice pH of1

I see loads of blokes in the supermarket in shorts and t shirts. I often ask them if they're cold and they say 'no, house is warm and the car is warm so I'm fine'. If your house is warm enough for shorts and T shirts in winter then I think the heating is too high. Why does nobody seem to just want to put a jumper on any more? I live in my Oodie with the heating off (but then I live alone and can't afford massive jumps in heating bills!)