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?

How strange suggesting that he pays more if he wants the heating on. I don’t understand couples that live like flat mates sharing bills etc. Surely a marriage is about teamwork so everything gets shared. However that aside there’s no chance I would layer up, I much prefer to be comfortable in my home wearing what I like with the heating setting at a constant temperature.

If the house is cold, put the heating on. If my OH tried to tell me I couldn't put it on when I was freezing, he'd find himself at his dad's house.

"I cant stand hot, stuffy air or sleep in a heated room."

Hot and stuffy are not the same things. I also wouldn't sleep in a heated room, but I need the heating on BEFORE I go to bed, which OP is complaining about.

@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?

tell him if he is the only person in the house and he is cold, then to go and get some extra clothes on! and put slippers on as its amazing how much warmer his feet will be

i dont work at home but i am at home all day and we only have our heating on for 1 hr a day around about 3 pm and then its nice and warm for the night but cooled down enough to sleep, how on earth do you run up thousands on your gas bill? i only pay £69 a month for elec and gas and im in credit!

Something is not right. I have a 3 bed end of tce house Victorian. I’m with BG working from home with temp set for 20 degrees and paid 100 pm. Admittedly I paid this through out the summer months when my usage is less but still works out a lot less than you paid.

We paid about 1000 last year in total for gas and electric, though we do have solar panels. Our thermostat is set to 16 degrees C, and yes we later up. We also insulated the s**t out of our house.

"I’m the opposite. Being too warm before bed is the worst thing for me, I like the room being a bit cold."

My bedroom is cold because I'm under my winter duvet, but if I get cold sitting in the living room before bed I just won't be able to sleep. Even going to brush my teeth in the cold bathroom makes it harder to settle afterwards.

"Sitting in thin tops and maybe not owning thermals/jumpers or allowing yourself to try and be warm by yourself through layering up. "

I dress appropriately for the season, but that won't warm up my nose and I'll be damned if I'm wearing gloves inside.

@RosesAndHellebores

Your figures are incomprehensible op. We have a 3500sq ft house, built in 1920s, hive heating, solar panels, double glazing. Heating is set to 18° and not all the house is heated all the time (I have a plug in radiator when working from home). Our energy bills are about £3.5k per annum.

Even at 24° I cannot see how a 1400 sq foot terrace costs £7200+ per annum to heat unless you have all the windows open as well A contributor to the bills may be the way your house faces - are those big bays north facing?

We have a 4000 sq ft house, 2 years old, well insulated, double glazed etc etc. We heat it with an air source heat pump. Our electricity cost is over £500 per month. My house is never above 21 degrees (🥶) according to my wall mounted thermostats. We have solar panels which apparently are meant to lower our energy costs, which clearly don't do a very good job. I hate the heat pump. I literally watch our smart meter tick over all day.

We are in credit by £60 odd at the moment so there isn't an outstanding debt built up. Some energy bills are just larger than others 🤷🏻‍♀️

I invested in a heated airer some years ago and it’s a godsend for my home office which is a spare bedroom. I don’t have the heating on in the rest of the house and leave the airer on pretty much all the time. It’s v economical to run. I also have a heated throw and if I’m really cold I use that too.
Our house is v v cold but it’s a complete waste to heat the whole house IMO. Having one warm room is fine for me and I really feel the cold!

@reallyagain

Vivienne do you mind me asking how much you spend on gas/electric per month? Last winter we were averaging £660pm. Can't really cut back elsewhere to pay for that! It's a 3 bed house albeit Victorian

£660 a month is just nuts. We have a 4-bed Victorian house---built in 1885 so single brick and crappy insulation. Gas and electricity is £150 a month in winter. And, given that we are more used to the Far East than the UK heat-wise, it is not chilly at all.

Thats a huge amount for you gas and electricity. Ours if £175 pcm on average. We have solar panels but only rent them so don’t get the feed in tariff. My DH works in his office in the garden, it’s got electric radiators which are expensive but he only puts them on to warm the place up. He stands at his desk rather than sit, this keeps him active and warmer. Buy him some thermal vests for Christmas, remind him of Climate Change, get your house insulated if not already, have RSV’S on your radiators. Put foil behind the radiators. We also get Perspex sheeting with magnetic tape to make our double glazing triple glazed. Very cheap and effective and removable in the spring. Buy a hot water bottle with straps, like a ruck sack, you can get these for people who suffer from endometriosis. That will keep him warm. I can really understand that sitting and not moving gets you colder and colder. He should stand up every hour and swing his arms about and run in the spot. Good for your heart health too.

Less heating is something we are going to have to get used to if we're not very rich. I ration mine. I haven't yet used the bedroom radiator because I don't need it at night as the flat is generall warm by then. I put a very small one in our hall with the doors open in early morning only. I live in a flat so it's easy to spread the heat. In a house it's difficult, especially if you are both in separate places. This is something to consider when choosing between home or office to work. Is the cost at home worth it? To keep switching on and off costs more money as it has to start from scratch again. It's better to leave it on for longer in the morning so the heat can accumulate - turn it off for the afternoon and then later in evening on again. Or maybe a small separate heater for the sitting room, rather than the full flow of
radiators all day. YRNBU but you have to work out a plan.

We have a 4 bed with big drafty french doors and heat the place up to 21c, 22 when chilly. Gas is £90 a month.

Can't understand how you've been paying £600, even if that was with british gas... It sounds like something's gone wrong somewhere, is it worth asking them to investigate those prices, even if you're not with them anymore -- I'd be suspecting paying other houses as well there.

We don't have central heating, only a gas fire in the living room. If you feel cold, put on another sweater/fleece. In the really cold weather, I have been known to work with a hot water bottle, in a sleeping bag with a hat and fingerless gloves.
Reason for no central heating, our landlord won't put it in and if we get a grant, he is getting out of his duty and in my view, defrauding the public purse. So it is always going to be extra pullys in our house.
We do seem to get less bugs than most...

@reallyagain

Inferior when the heating is about 20 degrees it feels definitely warm

Heating to 24 is simply mad!. I agree that 20 is fine, though our flat is well insulated and is warmer than this on sunny winter days. My children were brought up in a big victorian house with the heating at 18.5 and wore extra layers when needed. Apparently a temperature of 18.5 is recommended for bedrooms.

IMO it depends on the size of house and how well your windows and doors (external and internal) are draught-proof. Switching it up and down cists more than leaving it on an ambient temperature and closing doors to the room you are in at the time. Turn the radiators off in the rooms you are not sitting/working in during the day and only switch the bedroom rads on for about an hour before you go to bed then switch it/them off. If your thermostat timer allows you to switch on/off automatically at various times then do that.
The heaviest users of electric are kettle, iron, washing machine and tumble dryer.
Boil only enough water for however many cups you need, just measure them out. I cup should barely cover the element OR make more coffee or tea than you need and put the rest in a thermos by the kettle so you don't forget to use it.
Have your heating on 2 degrees lower than your DH prefers it, then lower by 1 degree every couple of weeks until about 17.5, which is plenty warm enough with decent draught proofing.
I'm in a single glazed old style property with open plan sitting room leading through an arch onto a landing leading to second storey.
I still have no heating on and I'm in thin cotton cami and cotton leggings from Primark but still plenty warm enough. It's not a case of money with me, just comfort. I hate overheated rooms.

Definitely expensive
I just had my bill (admittedly it's a two bed apartment but roomy, and 15 years old) and I pay £35 electric and £15-20 gas per month
If I'm cold sitting down I use a heated throw

Agree that it's very hard to work productively if you're feeling the cold and more layers doesn't necessarily hack it in that situation. But if it's just about work then buying a space heater is going to be a better solution than heating the whole house. Get one that's very portable and he can move in into the living room/bedroom as needed

My gas bill yesterday was 9.47 for 31 days and electric 9.92, both with EDF. Gas domestic standard variable until April, Elec business tariff.
Tariffs depend where you live.

Glad you've got a new provider. Unfortunately prices are going up for everyone this year so you really need to get your usage down. There are lots of tricks (probably already mentioned) such as foil behind the radiators, draught excluders including on letter box. A friend of mine with a very draughty front door has a heavy curtain ceiling to floor a few inches inside which she pulls across in winter. It makes a big difference.
We used to have an electricity monitor (guess like a smart meter) which gave readings in real time so if we turned off light or put on kettle the cost would visibly go up. We adapted our behaviour quite a lot because of it - only filling kettle as much as we needed, not leaving oven on if empty, reducing temperature of hot water, turning off radiators in empty rooms etc.

It is miserable trying to work while cold but I'm sure there must be more efficient way to heat your house. Your costs are around four times ours for a similar space with two teenagers so if they are correct it must be possible to reduce your usage.
Good luck.

My DH gets up first, it’s dressing gown then heating on automatically regardless of the temperature. I think it’s a habit he can’t get out of. Where as I get up and open all the windows to let fresh air in, clear out the damp air before I would consider turning the heating on.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have him pay if he wants the heating on more. I have raynauds so struggle with the cold but I’d be very conscious of constantly turning the heating on for no reason. Warm socks, thermal underlayers, jumpers would always come first before turning the heating in the whole house on. As for bedtime tell him to get a hot water bottle, heat pack or an electric blanket. I’d also suggest heated foot warmer for his office. I’ve just told my DH to get one for his office as he dose get cold in there over winter even with heating and jumpers on.

We both WFH. I hate being cold. I have however told him no to putting the heating on for extra time than we would do normally. I’d rather have the money for other things. I would just wear an extra layer. He is being unreasonable- especially when you’ve already had a massive bill through for it!! How can he honestly justify it.

£660!! My parents live in a 5 bed farmhouse built in the 1800's with storage heaters and poor insulation which is usually fairly warm, they only heat 2 of the bedrooms but have underfloor heating and a towel rail on 24/7 in the bathroom, and heaters in the other 4 downstairs rooms and they pay between £3-400 a month, £660 is insane!!

not read full thread
YANBU
This idea of turning a thermostat up, and using fossil fuels / £££ to be super cosy is SO LAST DECADE. Tell him to wake up

I've not switched the heating on yet. I usually keep it off til December.

We have jumpers and scarves to wear. I also have a heated throw in my office as it's the coldest room in the house (on a corner with 3 external walls).