Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To want to restrict how much we have the heating on

901 replies

reallyagain · 01/11/2021 22:26

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?

OP posts:
Nanny0gg · 02/11/2021 10:26

Get him an oil filled electric radiator for Christmas.

Oftenithinkaboutit · 02/11/2021 10:26

@reallyagain

Often fair enough - he wants all the takeaways, eating out etc too though!
He likes the good life!
Franklin12 · 02/11/2021 10:27

I think this might be a joke thread.

reallyagain · 02/11/2021 10:28

Franklin fgs it's not

OP posts:
Skinnytailedsquirrel · 02/11/2021 10:28

Can you insulate your house more OP? We have a 3 bed 1960s house which we have insulated well. Thermostat at 23 degrees means it warms up the house in the morning and stays at that until evening. Our bills are high (about 2k per annum) though as we use www.greenenergyuk.com/ (the only UK company which is 100% renewable)
I use the oven a lot and the tumble dryer so I am aware of high usage.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 02/11/2021 10:28

@RobinPenguins

24/25 degrees is so unnecessary. I don’t even think thermostats should be able to go that high. It’s uncomfortably warm.
It really isn't unnecessary in my flat!
reallyagain · 02/11/2021 10:28

It's so ridiculous though it may sound it! Hence my frustration

OP posts:
Oftenithinkaboutit · 02/11/2021 10:31

Op

What is your marriage like beyond this issue?

reallyagain · 02/11/2021 10:31

Otherwise good!

OP posts:
Hellolittlestar · 02/11/2021 10:32

@RobinPenguins
24/25 degrees is so unnecessary. I don’t even think thermostats should be able to go that high. It’s uncomfortably warm.

You annoyed me with your post. In your opinion it’s not necessary, but some people like it. I think it’s an absolute madness not to turn heating on if you can afford it. There are people here saying 16-17c is an ok inside temperature. I would be miserable in it. And whilst I set mine on 21-22, I’d much rather chose 24 over 16.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 02/11/2021 10:33

I started off by feeling sorry for your OH @reallyagain but now I've changed my mind. I have the heating on all day when I'm WFH (and it sometimes goes up to 24 or 25 in the evening) but I'm not walking around in a t shirt, I've got slippers, leggings, t shirts and a hoodie and a thick fleecy dressing gown in the evening. I also wouldn't dream of having cold showers!

I will admit to putting the roof down on my car on a nice day but that's with the heating and heated seats on, a thick coat and a wooly hat!

MagicalFish · 02/11/2021 10:33

I try not to heat the house excessively but it's miserable being cold. I've held out until just now but I'm wearing normal socks, slipper socks and slippers and my feet are still so cold they're stinging. So I've just given in and put the heating on. But I would never put it on without layering up first.

BirdyBirdyTweetTweet · 02/11/2021 10:36

I've never restricted the heating but this year with energy price hikes and wfh I've decided to try and stick it out as long as I can. It's not been on yet even for an hour.

However part of the reason is that my boiler is old and on its last legs, every year i pray to the gods it doesn't conk out. It doesn't cope with on / off so if it's on it has to stay on.

I don't have the money to replace. 🙁

50andup · 02/11/2021 10:37

Has he literally not noticed what's happening in Glasgow this week?

I could afford to have my heating on day and night, but choose not to because I want the planet to remain inhabitable. So if he isn't motivated by the cost aspect, can you appeal to his better nature in terms of reducing your use of fossil fuels?

When I'm WFH I barely ever switch on the heating and instead use a large heated throw wrapped around myself at my desk. I promise you it's really toasty! How about buying him one as his Christmas present this year, so you don't have to heat the whole house?

WowStarsWow · 02/11/2021 10:37

@reallyagain

Wow did you read where I cited the ave temp and hours the house was being heated to?

As I've already explained many many times, I've moved suppliers, and expect usage behaviour to change significantly

Yes I've read the whole thread! I don't get why you expect usage behaviour to change significantly when you have said multiple times that your DH will not entertain the thought of changing his ways. Or is he going back to the office before winter? If bills were £160 before, then it does sound like it's entirely down to his habits. But it sounds like he doesn't want to change!
reallyagain · 02/11/2021 10:39

Little experiment - so today the heating hasn't been on since this morning. The room I'm in is 18.6 without the heating being on. DH is currently out - if he was here he'd be putting it on now. I've a light thermal under a jumper and feel absolutely fine, have slippers on too (like I've said before I do feel the cold generally)

OP posts:
Oftenithinkaboutit · 02/11/2021 10:43

@reallyagain

Otherwise good!
I find this hard to believe Dh is “sulking” You are “angry” * every time we mention heating now there's a row * Financial concerns

This must be seeping in to every day life because we are entering winter and obviously the beating issue and both around each other all day every day working from home in small space - well, I just can’t see family life being a bed of roses. Or even close to that

reallyagain · 02/11/2021 10:44

He is sulking about the heating and I'm angry about his behaviour with the heating, yes fairly specific

OP posts:
Oftenithinkaboutit · 02/11/2021 10:45

@reallyagain

Little experiment - so today the heating hasn't been on since this morning. The room I'm in is 18.6 without the heating being on. DH is currently out - if he was here he'd be putting it on now. I've a light thermal under a jumper and feel absolutely fine, have slippers on too (like I've said before I do feel the cold generally)
You see I wouldn’t see you as someone who feels the cold if you’re comfortable in that temperature with that clothing. I feel the cold and in that scenario… I really would feel uncomfortable
Oftenithinkaboutit · 02/11/2021 10:46

@reallyagain

He is sulking about the heating and I'm angry about his behaviour with the heating, yes fairly specific
But as I say - we are in winter So this issue seeps in to every day Every hour!

So will you be angry and him sulking every hour you are at hone together working?

reallyagain · 02/11/2021 10:47

Often do you feel uncomfortable wearing thermals and jumpers outside in the summer when it's circa 19 degrees?

OP posts:
Otherpeoplesteens · 02/11/2021 10:47

Then he'll have to pay the extra £500/month. Call it Greta's Revenge. There will come a time when we think of it as Greta's Gift to Humanity.

More seriously, this talk of £660pcm is pretty meaningless because the tariff is a huge factor in it. It would be more helpful if we knew how much actual energy (in kWh) is being consumed. I posted a couple of weeks back on our own gas consumption. These are daily average figures for each quarter:

Three months to November 2020 - 25.4 kWh
Three months to February 2021 - 64 kWh
Three months to May 2021 - 53.9 kWh
Three months to August 2021 - 18.4 kWh

This is a detached house, roughly same size at 1360 square feet, but new (2017) build and well-insulated. Two adults and two young children at home all day. Gas provides both heating and hot water from a condensing boiler, new in 2017.

The thermostat is set for 22 celsius upstairs for when get up and 21 celsius in the evening for children's bath- and bed times. Downstairs it's set to 21.5 until 0900 in the morning, and 22 from 1600 in the afternoon and evening when we tend to be a bit more sedentary. The system won't let the temperature fall below 19 during the day downstairs, or 17 upstairs. So far this winter the radiators feel cool to the touch more often than hot. It's also worth pointing out that these are thermostat settings, and the temperature in our living room, for example, is usually a degree lower than where the thermostat is actually located.

Personally, I would rather have it slightly warmer: I come from a tropical place where 20 celsius is a cold winter's day. But with a vest, long sleeve shirt and sweater, plus moving around chasing the DCs for much of the day, 20-21 is easily manageable and I don't feel cheated in any way.

However, I would not want it much colder than that during the day. Putting another sweater on just doesn't cut it when your hands are so numb that you cannot hold a kitchen knife safely, or change a nappy, or click a mouse with any kind of control.

There's a reason why government guidelines recommend a minimum daytime of 18 celsius even with appropriate clothing - less than that is demonstrably harmful to health, with actual evidence to back the recommendations up. Sitting around in 15/16 degrees in thermals, as some on here would suggest, is utter nonsense. It's harmful, and while your wallet may benefit in the short term the cost gets picked up by the NHS instead in respiratory conditions, flu, strokes and heart attacks, so it's irresponsible too.

Walking around half naked while you superheat your house to 24 or 25 celsius is equally wasteful and irresponsible if you give the slightest shit about climate change.

Autumnleaves4 · 02/11/2021 10:47

I’m guessing when you said your monthly bill was £660 that this was reflected rice of winter use only and you didn’t pay that every month all year. Most people pay the same every month to keep bills constant but the actual use will be much more in the winter than the summer. You say you don’t have the heating on at all in the summer but have been sending in monthly meter readings. This confuses things as over the summer months when your usuage is light they will bill you less and the your bills will shoot up in the winter. What is your actual average monthly bill, .I suspect not £660 for 12 months.
That said, an indoor temperature above 21/22 is way too hot.

3WildOnes · 02/11/2021 10:47

I can't understand how you pay so much?! My heating is on constantly from about Sept-May. Set between 20-22 in the day and 16 at night. Our gas bill has never been more than £70 a month. I hate being cold. Maybe you need to move to a new build or pay for insulation.

PinkSparklyPussyCat · 02/11/2021 10:47

Has he literally not noticed what's happening in Glasgow this week?

You mean a bunch of heads of state turning up in their private jets to lecture the rest of us peasants on what we should be doing?