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.

Having it on 30 is beyond ridiculous. It also can't be healthy for any of you.

He needs to learn to dress for the winter and a climatise to a more reasonable indoor temperature of 19 or 20.

Doesnt sound like it actually gets to 30

Okay now you've updated and described the house a bit more, I think it's 10% him, 90% the house. I'm actually curious, if you went and bought a cheap thermometer, what temperature your house actually is.

I'd call someone in to 'fix' the thermostat for me.
My family, including young adult children, have to suck up heating being off unless we're down near 5 degrees or so, in a single glazed Victorian house. That's what jumpers are for! And blankets!

Heat the person, not the house 😀

We've got a digital temperature thing. Big numbers. We've got a rule that if it goes below 18 we put the heating on but once it gets to 18/19 it gets put off again.

It's not good for heating to be on all the time, neither for wallet or body. Central heating is very drying - my skin is always so much worse in winter due to this.

We have jumpers and blankets.

Kids are quite happy.

If we had animals then they have fur.

Your husband is an idiot.

OP: is it possible that your DH doesn't want to see the Dr because he's fearful that he might have something wrong with him and then what would happen to you and your sons? So he buries his head in the sand. Could those be his thought processes? It's not unheard of that people think those thoughts.

It'd probably be worth checking out your loft insulation as standards have changed over the years. When I had my loft boarded 3 years ago they put down much thicker stuff than they took up.

What are your floors like? A lot of heat is lost through the ground, and it is possible to insulate underneath the floor, depending on the circumstances. And try wearing several pairs of socks and get slippers with good thick soles. Watch TV with your feet up.

It really will be mainly because it’s set at 30 degrees. That’s summer heatwave hot. Won’t do any of you any good at all, least of all your bank balance. 20 should be enough to keep any house comfortably warm.

@IncompleteSenten has he tried hot water bottles? We usually have the house at between 12 -15 degrees, and I have a hot water bottle strapped to me (tucked in the waistband of my trousers) and wear 2 or 3 layers on my top half.

I hope you can find a solution that works for you all

I'm all for frugality but that's not ideal. I grew up in a house like this. It makes you feel rotten in the end and can cause health problems. There's a happy medium, unless you're really super broke of course.

I bet as others have said that the house is not getting up to 30. Better to set it at 16-18 and just leave it on, you'd probs waste less power.

You have to pay for what you use. The cap is the price per unit. If the cap was the maximum you got to pay for any usage you wanted we’d all have the heating on a lot more!

Just reread and why is it on at all at night though? I like my windows open at night and heat off but if you leave them shut at night and use a leccy blanky or hot water bottle there's no need to be cold! I love neshbastard btw!

Someone reported my comment about setting the silly t**t on 🔥 to keep him warm 😂

Might you be better leaving it at 18 all the time so he doesn't get freezing?

There's no need to have the heating at 30.

He needs a crash course in how to use heating and how thermostats work.

3 bed semi here like the op

Gas and electric £110/month.

Temp 15/16 during the day, 17 in the evening although it’s 18/19 now as a rare treat for half term. It’s fine and we haven’t died yet.

You’d be able to have a nice holiday every few months with what you’d save if you get him to wear a jumper.

£500 is huge for one month. It's possibly wrong, do have it checked. How many people are in your house? I have heating on all the time but am on my own so no point in comparing.

Does your husband earn a lot and/or have much in the way of personal savings? If so, get him to pay the bill, or most of it.

I don't know what the answer is if he really feels the cold. Extra clothes and all that do not cut it, you need good heating if you hate cold. However, he must consider you and not expect you to be paying more than he does - I don't know why you are even thinking that way, it isn't your bill, it's a joint bill.

He's the carer for OP and their DC.

I know it's inevitable this time of year, but I wish people wouldn't flood threads about someone being cold at home with stoic tales of putting their heating on at 16° for half an hour a day, wrapping themselves in seventeen layers and sleeping with the windows open despite the snow!

Some people feel the cold more than others. Everyone's house is different, everyone's heating system's different. Being bundled up like the coats bed at a student party must be miserable - and some of us (e.g. me) still feel like crying if just our faces & fingers are cold.

I mean, good for you if your metabolism's like a furnace. I feel for you if you're an amorphous textile bundle. If you live in a full-spec Passivhaus, no words could encompass my envy!

But we're all different. Showing off your stingy fuel consumption in threads about being cold at home contributes nothing, other than the competition going on amongst yourselves - you could start a new thread just for that ⛄

Ours is the same, but if it's cold, it's cold. I can't bear being cold. I have thermals t shirt 2 jumpers and a heated blanket on with fingerless gloves. It's 22 in here currently

@soupfiend except you’re not him so how are you supposed to know if he needs a doc appointment.

Old stone houses are a bloody nightmare to heat.

I used to live in one until I moved to a nice insulated new-ish build.

We all used to huddle round the hideously expensive to run aga in the winter.

If the wetroom etc were converted from outside space they'll be cold too.

Do you have an open fire or wood burning stove? They can be better for making people feel warm.

30?? I'm in Malaysia and our room temp gets to 28 and that's bad enough for me !

The cap isn’t some magic number meaning you can spend ass much as you like, it’s a cap on the price per unit of energy you use. The quoted figures were for average house usage. Some people did believe it have them a magic pass to use as much as they wanted and had a huge shock.

@IncompleteSenten I’m in a bigger house than you, at home all the time and we pay less than half that. 30 is crazy high! Maybe suggest he gets his thyroid checked if he’s that cold. Or he’d be better with direct heat like a heated throw.

okay I’m looking at the thread here and we have an old boiler but 30 is my boilers minimum radiator setting?

30 is very high. I have my house set to 20 and it comes on if it drops below 16. It only goes higher if it's been off when we've been away. We're never cold and I don't wear many layers in the house, usually just a t shirt or dress. The children are often found in shorts, even in the depths of winter!

@IncompleteSenten You have so accurately described my husband it’s uncanny! You have my heartfelt sympathy.

My DH to!! Drives me nuts. He doesn't own any indoor winter clothing. And yes he wants to wear T shirts all dah and go to bed naked in winter!!!!
I flip out on him and it makes 0 difference. Mr Money Bags over here.

I even purchased him winter clothes. I feel your pain. Help!!!!