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.

The cap isn't a cap on what they can charge you

I have a 3 bed town house. I have my heating on during the day on 30 because it needs to be heated properly. I do not leave it on constantly all day though. Switch heating off before bed too. I don't spend £500 per month though!

YANBU that’s fucking nuts. Our house isn’t insulated for shit (rental) and the bill was half that.

Why does he need it at 30 degrees? Is he stood in his bloody speedos or something fantasising about the Maldives? Were not even having that cold a winter.

I am however, having “Mr Neshbastard”.

Hi Op, I sympathise with both of you. I am also mobility impared, wfh and am mostly housebound, plus have Raynauds so really struggle with the cold. Some things I have found help me keep my bills down include:
A heated electric throw, costs a few pence an hour to run, keeps me toasty warm. I got the Sherpa fleece one from Lakeland when they had 20% off and it’s lovely and thick and soft! Was about £60.
I will put the heating on for about half an hour every two hours, to take the chill off the air I am breathing in.
Fingerless cashmere gloves / wrist warmers (I got the recycled cashmere ones in the sale at Turtle Dove). £25ish I think.
I have a woolen shawl for over my shoulders / neck to stop them getting cold and achy.
I sit in an upholstered chair to work, and layer blankets on it first so I am essentially cocooned! I also wear several jumpers, and wool leggings / trousers.
I also have hot water bottles for bed, one of which has a section for feet, and I use two at night, along with extra blankets, but the heating is OFF at night! Flannel PJs aren’t sexy, but they help me stay warm 😂
With all of this, my gas and electricity bills for never being cold, in a small two bedroom terraced cottage (with decent insulation, admittedly) average less than £100 a month.
Perhaps you could suggest to your husband that if you can get your utility bills, say, down from £400 a month to £150 a month, that saving of £250 a month (£3,000 a year!) could go towards a holiday for you both? Or if you can’t physically manage that / can’t leave your children, that’s still pretty nice savings towards something special.

If he is refusing to wear a jumper, you are reasonable to have the view you have.

Op, if you contact an electrician, they can put a restrictor on your thermostat which won't allow it to be turned above a set temperature of your choice.
You could do that, then no matter what your husband does, he can't turn it above the set temperature, thus lowering your bill.

For context that's the same cost as my mortgage...

30 is insanely high. We have it at 18 or occasionally 21. That's way above room temperature!

Bloody hell. My thermostat is currently at 16.5. I put it up to 19 if I'm not well. 30C? I'd be expiring.

I had my roof relined and the loft insulated a little over a year ago, then had a completely new heating system (Hive) installed. The house is now warmer than it's been for years and the temperature is now usually around 15.5 to 16.5/17.0C so the house atmosphere feels comfortable. I supplement that with several warm layers from head to toe including thick fleece boots and at night a duvet beneath me as well as over plus hot water bottles. Discovering faux Oodies in various lengths and thicknesses have been a godsend. My monthly payments have gone down this winter by a third. Still too expensive but not as frightening as it was. 🌹

Are you really heating the house to 30C? That's hotter than the average temperature in July or August when many of us are sweltering in shorts and t-shirts. Most heating systems aren't even designed to work to that temperature. And keeping it on all night? It's nuts.

Is he well or does he have health issues? I couldn't live day to day in that heat and get everything I need to do done, so I'd have asked him to leave by now.

I suspect the house is poorly insulated so never reaching 30 degrees but the heating is on full blast all day!

30 is way too high. Turn it down.

I nearly cried when the gas bill came in for a three month period. Fucking £750!!! I can't stand being cold in the house though. I never put it above 22 and have turned radiators down/off in less used rooms.

30? Who on Earth needs it that high. Tell him to work some overnight if he wants it that high that’s ridiculous

30°c? That's ridiculously hot and your bill is also massive, which checks out tbf!

My dh is the opposite and goes round turning off all the radiators. I can live with it being a bit cold but our bedroom started to get damp recently and there was mould growing on my window frame. So had to start turning it on a bit more often. I don't think putting up with it being really cold all the time is good for anyone.

Is there something wrong with him that he feels the cold like this? Thyroid etc.

I'd turn the thermostat down to 21 and put a bloody padlock on it.

Oh man! I sympathise!!!! My husband used to have the heating in 30 ALL THE TIME!!!!!!

But over the last 15 years I’ve managed to really get him to stop. His parents gave th heating in at 25…and I die every time we go there!

I'm in a 3 bed semi, 1960s build and the insulation is TERRIBLE. We're hoping to sell and move this year but if we were staying, I'd invest in insulation. It doesn't retain any heat, and the historic EPC rating is E, which I know is crap.

We have a similar bill situation. Was 290 this month but has been as high as 400. I've found setting a thermostat and only having the heating kick in if we go under 18 has kept the house tolerable. We then have lots of thick, Sherpa lined fleeces and blankets scattered everywhere, slippers, fluffy socks, hot water bottle, have a heated blanket for downstairs, and a heated under blanket in bed. Have been debating an electric heated hoody for when I get up and move about 😂 but we find keeping the heating on a thermostat all day is cheaper than the blasts we have to do after coming in from work, as we also have to kick it up to 30-32 for 3 hours to get it tolerable.

Do you have Hive or anything you can preset controls for and remove him as a user and therefore remove his temptation to relent? If you've both agreed, it sounds like he's doing it on impulse - I empathise because I experience pain if I get cold. 🥶

30 degrees!!! I am proper nesh, but I would pass out in that

Ours is set at 20. It came on today when I was on the treadmill (I forgot to turn the dial down) and I thought I was going to pass out with the heat. Its just horrible when it gets too warm in the house.
30 is just insane, its little wonder its pissing you off!

He's 60, he feels the cold and you say you can afford it. Maybe just suck it up?

It always annoys me on threads like these when people talk about putting on a jumper etc. If you feel the cold easily, any skin exposure can “let the cold in”. So , for me, it’s my nose! If my nose is cold then it doesn’t matter how warm the rest of me is it makes me feel generally cold.

30. Jesus wept. I’d feel sick in that heat. Ours is about 18 and our electric is £90 a month. Four bed detached. We do have good insulation though and we had the cavity’s in the walls filled.

Oh my post thought I was numbering it. 😄