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?

Mine is £75 per month for gas and electric. 3 bed mid terrace. Thermostat is constantly on 18 degrees 24/7/365. I turn it up to 21/22 in evenings more now since reading these threads.
Its £75 well spent. £900 per year. I'm only on 30k per year but its a small fraction of that and literally wouldnt have it any other way, unless hotter. If I was on 8k a year, which I have been in the past, I would still pay it, happily.

Our house was built 1903 ,3 bedroom ,north east of Scotland on the coast. I moved us on to Octopus about 3 years ago we're £105 p/m (includes gas & electric). Hope you manage to get your bills down @reallyagain

We have a drafty old Victorian house too, single glazing and I don’t think the roof is insulated, last year combined gas and electric bill was £180 ish but that’s averaged out over the year, closer to £400 in the winter. We have thermostat radiators and double lined velvet curtains that don’t get opened until the heating goes off normally on 0500-0800 and 1500-2100 but not much else we can do house wise so we just put more clothes on, gloves/hats etc

@reallyagain
Your husband wants 24 degs C?
That is sweltering
I have mine at 18 or 19 tops and it’s plenty warm enough
But I wear jumpers.
When I was struggling I could only afford to heat to 16 degs, and the house was really cold
A friend suggested a wood burner and that and double glazing made a big difference
Victorian 3 bed house- but a terrace so neighbs help keep each other warm.

Loft insulation helps HUGELY!
I wish I’d done my house years ago

"I have mine at 18 or 19 tops and it’s plenty warm enough
But I wear jumpers."

I wear jumpers but 19 is not warm enough for me if I'm inactive.

If he feels cold, maybe he can run up and down the stairs a few times. Sitting still is how you get cold even in a heated room. A thermal vest, a shirt and sweater, a woolly hat and a few star jumps. That's what I do in my Victorian 4-bedroom ruin. No central heating. Radiator on in the morning 2 hrs, late afternoon the same and again in the evening. Yes, I WFH.

@reallyagain I HIGHLY recommend going with a company that will install a smart meter for free. I know you say that the boiler is fine because it's new but I also moved into a property last year which had a year old boiler. BG sent me £150 a month bills which I said was absurd. It's only me and my son at home and we aren't there half the week anyway. I fought them for months on it and in the end insisted on getting a smart meter and them recalculate the previous months from the new smart meter readings.. I was right about the price being absurd, it suddenly went down to £30 a month and they owed me hundreds.

Having a new boiler by no means assures that it's giving correct readings. £660 in a month is shocking.

Join Insulate Britain. If they succeed, heating costs will go down massively.

Omg £600 for energy. We paid £300 per month for a 14 room house and £365 for council tax. Was banned from working by shielding re covid. British gas registered a default as I asked to go for a reading bill. The government did not moderate them. Huge profits through covid. Total barstards. If your bill is £600 op there is something very wrong. Unless you have two agas and a swimming pool tell husband to wear puffer!

My daughter and I have poor circulation and are both thin and feel the cold easily. Our hands and feet feel icy even with heating on. I work from home but feel uncomfortable with too many layers - It feels as if the cold is trapped within the layers and I feel claustrophobic. Right now the heating goes on 17 at about 5pm until 10pm. On colder days I will warm the house in the morning for 2 hours.Sometimes we switch it off earlier than 10pm as it gets warm. Our insulation is fairly good. We never have it on at night. Come Jan through to March it is on from 10 am -10pm but we switch it down once toasty.
I think different family members have different needs. I would not charge DH more because he eats more or my DS who takes longer showers. No way DD and I can be paying more or being told how to dress....that's the part I feel you are being unreasonable on.
Your bill is more than double ours so you not unreasonable to want to reduce it but I would think somethings wrong for it to be so high.

He’s a bit of an arse isn’t he.
We put the central heating on (oil fired) about 7.00 until after breakfast. Usually we light the log burner at lunchtime if it’s really cold, or at teatime otherwise, right through the Winter.
BUT we do put on an extra (woollen) layer this time of year and with the log burner lit it’s heat keeps the chill off the whole cottage.
AND we have a couple of cheap fan heaters if we need a bit of extra heat somewhere eg my Office or to warm the bedroom when we’re getting into our JimJams. Interestingly, our monthly electric bill is lower in the Winter than the Summer which means our hot water in the Summer costs more than heating bedrooms for 25 minutes or my Office for 2-3 hours maybe 2-3 days a week.

Ouch !!

Ours for winter so nov dec jan feb March is £200 a month

But I pay £160 all year to cover it roughly

No way could I or most people afford £600+ a month

Has anyone mentioned the Climate crisis?

YANBU we haven't even needed ours on yet, at the end of the day you have said the bills are high and already have a large bill to pay, he will have to learn other ways to keep warm.

Heated blanket for bed, will help but dear that bill is outrageous.

£100 per month on combined gas and electricity, obviously will go up.
On direct debit and have always had credit build up during summer months.
Have solar panels so that will offset some of the real cost .
But £600+ per month sounds very wrong.

My DH is always putting the heating up but he pays the bill so I can't really moan. Though I do always suggest an extra layer etc.

If you contribute to the bill why not ask him to put an extra £xx in a pot every time he turns it up/on?

@reallyagaina
Gosh you have had some nutters on this thread. We had a rental with a tiny boiler for a big 4 floor house. £300 a month, I went to bed in a hat! We didn't know it was underpowered until we moved. One the shifters was a heating engineer. Said Mrs that size is for a flat!! Barstard landlord had cheapest option to sell or rent.. New boiler blah blah, didn't fecking work!! Now small flat £100 a month, I have to strip off. Husband tightwad. I put a jumper on. Old school. Tell dh to feck off or pay. Posh people are aways cold.

We used to have the heating on quite a lot. Now it's an hour and a half in the morning for getting up and then a couple of hours when the kids come home from school and an hour at their bedtime . We both WFH and have got used to layering up and still feeling cold. We just can't afford any more heating.

There is something wrong with that number!

We have HEAT whatever that is with ludicrous services fee's which is less... And I have set timers throughout days for about an hour before I'm due home / wake up / before going to bed to make the house toast. I think someone is mugging you guys off!!!

Not everyone will agree but you are probably using more fuel turning the heating on and off a few times a day. Leave it on all the time with the thermostat at 18-20 so it's not using loads of energy to get the whole house heated up from cold. Turn down radiators a bit in the rooms you don't use all the time. Is your boiler old?

Has the OP posted figures?
Sorry I can't trawl through 33 pages.

I live in a largish house- 5 bedrooms, large living/public rooms.
I use 24,000 KwH of gas a year- heating and cooking.
6000 Kwh electric.
My monthly bill is £172.
A bill of £600 a month must be a huge house?
I can't why the OP has such a big bill.
I use my heating a lot.
I work from home, my elderly mother lives with me- who feels the cold, so in the winter months my heating is on a lot- but I only heat the rooms we use.
How can someone have such a high bill?

Me & DH only heat up the rooms we work in during the day with an electric heater. In the evening we tend to sit in one room so again just heat that room with electric heater. Our house is just to drafty and high ceilings so heat constantly escapes. We won’t put the hearing on till we really need it & even then it’s just in the morning and evening when kids are home. I would definitely get him to layer up, get some electric heaters to heat specific areas, use a hot water bottle to place under your feet and move around more, as sitting at desk for a long time, does make you cold. I don’t feel like we are being misery, trying to be sensible if anything and keep costs down. If he still insists on having it on, then completely reasonable he should pay for it.