To want to restrict how much we have the heating on

[reallyagain]

After a winter working from home last year we were hit with a horrendous heating bill (several thousand on top of already paying quite a high amount per month). So this year with gas prices being so high I’m really conscious of being careful. DH wants it on much more than I do and it’s causing endless rows. He’s turned it on 4 separate times today and is sulking when I comment. We share heating bills - I suggested he pays more to have it on more but he refuses.

How much do you have the heating on if you work from home?

Solid walls doesn’t mean it’s well insulated - you can still lose a lot of heat through them.

Siminjt thanks but I've said a couple of times I've just changed supplier in a hope this will help

@reallyagain

Siminjt thanks but I've said a couple of times I've just changed supplier in a hope this will help

It won’t help unless you know how many units you’re using on average, the price per unit of the old supplier and the price per unit of the new supplier.

You can use website that will work out the very best deal for you if you look at your unit use. Otherwise you’re essentially taking a stab in the dark, which seems silly when that stab could cost you more.

I give up...

He’d rather pay £600 a month than put a few layers on? He’s a fucking idiot. I’m in a 4 bed Edwardian semi, I have the thermostat on 18 and it’s set to come on for a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening. It’s only just November so while it’s chilly outside I don’t feel like we’re in real winter yet and will probably need to increase those hours in Jan/Feb. I have a big thick hoodie and slipper socks to wear over my normal clothes to work in which tide me over while the radiators are off. If I have to look professional for a longish meeting I might put the heating on just before it so I can manage without all the layers.

@XiCi
Just as an aside, the way gas Central heating works it costs exactly the same to heat one room as every room in the house so you won't save any money by switching the radiators off in unused rooms

It may not make much difference in a small house but in a large house that’s not true. If it cost the same then Thermostatic radiator valves wouldn’t be recommended for rooms which are not used often.

24 degrees! 😱 that is absolutely horrifying! Ours goes up to 19 max, 20 if I'm feeling generous. We have electric radiators in our office during the day to keep it toasty.

Has he no concept of climate change?

The fact you are even considering making him pay the heating bill makes you sound like a landlady not a DW. We pay our bills together, we put each other first, we care about each other’s comfort. I actually feel quite sorry for your dh, it sounds so miserable!

660 pounds pm is huge! Is your boiler serviced regularly? I think something may be amiss with it .we live in a detached home and ours is about 200 pounds which I think is big!

depends on how cold the house is.
our heating works on a thermostat but we only have individual heaters on if we feel cold layered up.

660 per month last year??????
There is something wrong unless you live in Downton Abbey.

Does your husband have the heating on all night?

Where is your thermostat? If you have it at 24 in an area that's a bit colder than the rest of the house, that means other parts of the house are being heated to 25 or 26.

I actually feel quite sorry for your dh, it sounds so miserable!
I'd be even more miserable if I had to pay close to 700pcm for the heating

Can you afford it? It’s horrible being cold? If you can afford it just heat your house.

My DH is similar (although not quite as extreme) and I would rather put on layers than spend an extortionate amount on gas. He decided to pay more for the bills so he doesn't feel guilty about putting it on when he wants. It still pains me a bit to be honest, but it's much fairer now.

Lasair no I can't afford it, I doubt many people could

Working from home

You may be able to claim tax relief for additional household costs if you have to work at home on a regular basis, either for all or part of the week. This includes if you have to work from home because of coronavirus (COVID-19).

You cannot claim tax relief if you choose to work from home.

You may be able to claim tax relief for:

gas and electricity
metered water
business phone calls, including dial-up internet access
You cannot claim for the whole bill, just the part that relates to your work.

How much you can claim
You can either claim tax relief on:

£6 a week from 6 April 2020 (for previous tax years the rate is £4 a week) - you will not need to keep evidence of your extra costs
the exact amount of extra costs you’ve incurred above the weekly amount - you’ll need evidence such as receipts, bills or contracts
You’ll get tax relief based on the rate at which you pay tax. For example, if you pay the 20% basic rate of tax and claim tax relief on £6 a week you would get £1.20 per week in tax relief (20% of £6).

Wondering if £660 a month was plucked out of the air to emphasise how unreasonable the DH was, gas is much cheaper than electric and it would be damn near impossible to spend near that much on gas heating for a 3 bed house, possible on electric though. OP still hasn't said how much of the bill is gas

We are elderly and feel the cold. We live in a 3 bed detached bungalow and pay £133 monthly for combined gas and electricity.
We recently got a £500 rebate from our £700 over payment. I opted to keep £200 credit and to keep payment the same.
Heating is on from 7 to 10am and 5to 10 pm but I switch it to come on if it gets cold outside those times. Sometimes we top up with a gas fire instead. We like the house at around 22degrees in the day time and 18 at night. We are with Octopus.

My heating is on a thermostat which is set to 19C during normal waking hours, much lower overnight because we all have good duvets. I had 4 people at home 24/7 last winter and came out of the winter slightly in credit. I do get cold during the day (though not very, house is decently insulated) but I wrap up in cardies and blankets and have a little electric heater on standby for when it gets properly cold again. I'm in 4 bedroom, bill just over £100/month. Right now it's just me here most of the time so even though prices have shot up, I expect that to drop a little.

Simonjt I did all that in choosing the new supplier

User no it wasnt plucked out if the air. Are you usually a conspiracy theorist or just on mn?

24 c Is much too warm!

I have my heating on about 17-19c if I’m busy/active eg doing the hoovering and cleaning because otherwise I’d be too warm. The way my house is insulated it rarely drops below 19c if I have the heating on in the evening so it works well.

I have reflective foil behind my radiators. I make sure to bleed the radiators and keep boiler pressure right. Curtains over windows and doors even though they’re triple glazed.
I have a sofa blanket to put iver me when watching TV. I wear a jumper. My bills have been crazy high for electricity. Last quarterly bills was £600 and £290 respectively and I give regular meter readings. My gas bill is so much lower though.

I’m really working on getting my electricity bill down but he’ll if I can by those eco extension leads anywhere that make it easy to turn everything off etc.

Come on - the cost for everyone goes up the more people use it NOT the other way around. Some people saying you should just keep the heating on is madness. Let alone the environmental impacts as well.

Maybe give a breakdown of the bill then and then people can give proper advice, a monthly DD means nothing as people can be in arrears