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?

I’m freezing just now and I have the heating blasting at the moment. If your cold put the heating on!

Most UK homes have rubbish heating. The boiler might be new, safe and correctly rated for the house. The radiators could well be the correct size and type. But the CONTROLLER is usually rubbish. Two or three fixed duration ON/OFF cycles every day. Just like they were in the 1970s!
There are at least 3 decent control systems that will save every home with oil/gas heating and water-filled radiators an absolute fortune because each room is independently wirelessly controlled and has its own thermostat that physically opens and shuts the radiator valve. So bedrooms can be 12° by day and 20° around bedtime (say 7pm-9pm for kids rooms and 10-12 for adults) Then reduced to 17° during sleeping hours and back to 19° during getting up & dressed. Living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens can all be similarly programmed to suit your lifestyle. System can detect if a window or exterior door is left open and automatically turn off the heating, and take into consideration other heat sources, like if the kitchen is being heated by cooking appliances. Some systems will automatically look at the local weather forecast online and adjust start-up times accordingly. There’s many other money saving features. A single click for “away mode” for when the house is empty. Can also be controlled by phone – so switch heating on from the car/train during your journey home.
If you can work an app on your phone, you are capable of using such a system – look for “domestic zoned heating controls” in your search engine. You could get a system for the cost of reallyagain’s last year’s monthly gas bill and reduce your bill by 30-40%. And your house will be more comfortable too.
Yes… I know I’m a geek, and was an early adopter of this type of system – but the whole family love it, and all friends who have experienced ours and subsequently had a similar control system fitted have been most impressed.
Downsides??? Some traditional plumbers and electricians dislike these systems because they aren’t familiar with the technology. Make sure to get a plumber who is experienced at fitting such a system. You need an internet connection. The radiator valves need 2 x AA batteries, best changed every 2 years in the autumn. Operation is less good if doors are left ajar. Not suitable for complete non-techie families – though the average 15 year old will have no problem. Boiler operation might seem odd at first – eg if you set your living room to be 19° at 7:00am, the system assumes you actually WANT it to be at 19° at 7:00am, and so turn the boiler on at, say 6:00am. If the system subsequently finds that the living room is at 19° at 6:50, then tomorrow, it will not start the boiler until 6:10a.m. This is because the system is “smart” and over a few weeks it learns the characteristics of each room. Similarly, if you have the living room set be 14°at 11:15pm, and in fact, on a cold night the temperature falls to 14°at 11:06pm, it won’t fire the boiler because there would be insignificant temperature by 11:15.

@reallyagain

We have a 4 bed house (1985 build). We had the heating on from 8am to 9pm last winter with the thermostat set to 19°. We only pay £69 a month for gas and electric and it balanced out over the year. My partner is Australian so he doesn't cope well with the cold.
I do not understand how you are spending £660 a month - that's insane.
I would look into whether there is an issue on your meter, a leak somewhere, or something else going on like they have messed up your opening/closing readings. Your bill shouldn't be anywhere near that even if you had it on 24/7.

Do not get an electric space heater - they are ridiculously expensive to run form electric, far more than just having the heating on.

I have to ask...where in the world are you that you BOTH work from home and can't afford heating? DH meaning designated husband (?) and you don't combine things like that? Or is this a marriage where people are still not sure they want to be together or what? You may feel that I may be a bit old fashioned but this is the first time I've ever commented on anything and am trying to figure out the terms as well! Perhaps have your house checked for insulation and other issues by heating supplier. They may also have programs where they give you the supplies to do the small things that may help with bills. In case you haven't noticed...it's freaking November. Turn the bloody heat on...during the day 18-20 is a solid warm spot and in evening...Turn down to 15-18 so you get good nights rest! Make sure you have a programmable thermostat and you are off to the races. Warm for him and cool for you both at night! Hope the suggestions help.

You are being unreasonable. A home should be warm and cosy with a minimum temperature of 20-21. If it doesn’t maintain this fairly easily it needs more insulation.

@Mere1

You are being unreasonable. A home should be warm and cosy with a minimum temperature of 20-21. If it doesn’t maintain this fairly easily it needs more insulation.

I'd be way too hot if the house was always at 20-21 degree! Mine rarely goes above 18 even in winter. I'd much rather add/remove layers.

That just sounds so depressing. An electric heater in single rooms🥺

@reallyagain I haven't read all 34 pages of thread, so I apologise if this has already been said (I have read all your comments tho!) It sounds to me that although yes, you had the heating on a lot, that £660 might have been paying off a debit balance. If you don't enter meter readings frequently you could be using more than is covered by the direct debit, and the debt builds up month on month (so it could be building up for a whole year for example, until you enter a new reading.) It sounds like your hubby wasn't entering any readings at all so likely a debt built up. If your contract had come to an end and you were also on an out of contract rate (SVT) you would have been paying a lot for each unit of energy. So I can kind of see how you might have been paying a hefty monthly amount. Yes gas prices are high at the moment, but hopefully you might have done your switch onto a fixed tariff before they went up, in which case you're shielded from market turbulence. So hopefully it wouldn't be anything like £660pm this winter.

I’m sure someone’s mentioned it already but just in case they haven’t - electric blankets are sooooo good! Just put it on to warm the bed up 10 mins before you get in mmmmmm

£660 is alot for one months gas/electricity. I pay roughly just under £200 a month for both and my heating comes on whenever the temperature drops below 19... I hate the cold 🥶

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Is he doing other things before turning on the heating? Slippers, a jumper, hot drinks etc?

My dh complains I have the window open at night in the winter yet refuses to wear more than underpants to bed. put some fucking pyjamas on then you wont be cold!

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz I feel your pain. DH goes to bed naked and the whines how cold he is. I'm menopausal and every night have to tell him to put something on in bed because there's nothing left on me to take off

I'd second what another poster has just said, about have you ruled out that the £660 wasnt just debt that has built up due to not submitting meter readings? You said there have been issues getting bills etc. I would get on phone to gas company and check all of this before you panic and cause arguments in your marriage!
But me and my husband work from home and we have heating on at about 19.5 but have little fan heater to warm up the room I work in as 19.5 is bit chilly for me when sitting at a desk even with jumpers on.
Maybe get your husband a fan heater for where he is working?

@linsey2581

I’m freezing just now and I have the heating blasting at the moment. If your cold put the heating on!

Did you even read the OP?

I haven't RTFT (it's rather long now) but YANBU.
I WFH and refuse to heat the whole house when it's just me here working in one room. I use an electric fan heater, when I need to, but usually if I layer up well and use a hot water bottle (and plenty of cups of tea) I stay toasty.
For comparison, this is a 3 bedroom (admittedly small) 80's built semi, good cavity wall and loft insulation, and we pay £70 all in for gas and electricity (year round, building up a buffer in the summer to pay for winter). We have 2 DC and the thermostat is rarely above 19°. The heating is really only on first thing in the morning and late afternoon/evening.

@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

I don't understand this at all. I live in a mid 20th century house, so not insulated like a new build would be. I hate being cold and I work from home 100% of the time and did pre-Covid also. I keep my thermostat at 21 year round and it kicks in if the temperature ever goes below that. I also use an oil radiator in my office in winter to make it even warmer. It's a 4 bedroom detached house and I pay £160 per month for gas and electricity. I think your meter must be faulty??

I’ve just bought an electric over blanket. It’s amazing. Can use it on bed, sitting while working etc. Costs 1p an hour apparently. Maybe buy him on of those?

Even if we had our heating on 24/7 on high we wouldn't spend £660pm! That's a 4 bed detached house.

Either something is going VERY wrong or you have a huge house heated to tropical temps.

Your both going to have to compromise if your usage was £650 per month last year it will be more this year with the increase in energy prices and if you had to use savings to pay for it you can’t afford it comfortably

I really feel the cold our thermostat is set to 20 I am not going to sit there like the Michelin man wearing gloves etc in my own home as thankfully we can afford our bill of £175 per month but as I wfh in the coldest room in the house I put my dressing gown on over my jumper and jeans if it’s chilly as dh works nights so would be melting in bed

The only person I know who pays £650 per month in gas and electric is extremely rich heating set constantly at 24 while she has the back door open for the dogs permanently in little dresses but that pays for her 5 bedroom house plus what was 6 apartments on her land she rented out now converted to 2 for her dc to live in.

@Lovely13

I’ve just bought an electric over blanket. It’s amazing. Can use it on bed, sitting while working etc. Costs 1p an hour apparently. Maybe buy him on of those?

Which one did you buy?

@TowandaForever I have one which is dreamland brand. Can't link as it's old but Argos and Amazon sell them. Gets decently warm!

I really feel for you. I feel the cold, I hate being cold, I am originally from a hot country and resent every single penny that I spend on heating. I spend £140 on a four bed detached house in the north.

I have bought teddy bear bedding for the children and I so we don’t have to get into cold beds. I work from home and wear a ‘wearable blanket’. I heat a hot water bottle or similar so my hands and wrists don’t touch the cold desk! And I sit on a fleece blanket so no cold air hits my back.

I think your husband is being selfish and a bit of a d**k. Seriously, no-one hates a cold house more than me, but there are better things to spend money on than giving it to utility companies. Like holidays abroad in the sunshine! You should get to decide, as a team, what the money gets spent on. Even if you can afford £600 a month, it’s still insane to give it to utility companies (in my opinion).

I was recently told that if I updated my radiators I would get more heating bang for my buck. You definitely want thermostats on the upstairs radiators so you can turn them off.

I have used the plastic over the windows and it definitely works if you have draughty windows.

If you have rubbish windows, then all day, the warm air is being sucked out, and replaced with cold air. You might as well stand by an open window throwing cash out…

I hope BG got it wrong and that you have a nice refund coming your way!

I feel the cold terribly. It doesn’t matter if I have an extra later or two on, if the air is cold my lips start to turn blue, I can’t feel the ends of my fingers so I can’t type (I work from home and my job requires a lot of keyboard work). My brain shuts down and all I can think of is that I’m cold I’m cold I’m cold. I avoid going to the toilet because it’s colder in there than the rest of the house. My DP is warm all the time. We try and bumble along as best we can. I turn it on for a bit. We adjust a few radiators to suit us in the different rooms we each use. He turns it off for a bit. I get freezing and turn it back in a couple of hours later…. It’s fine. Sometimes I’m too cold and then I do something about it. Sometimes he is too hot and then he does something about it. But he does understand how much I feel the cold and how my whole system seems to shut down it’ll it gets too bad. I would really struggle to live with someone who just told me to wear another layer and refused to have the heating on. I would rather not have enough food than to be cold all the time.

OP do you shop around for utilities? We are on the best tariff we can be on (well we were until the provider went bust) and I have the heating on maybe 3 hours a day. It’s also Victorian and quite big albeit well insulated. My combined gas and electricity bill is £125 per month. Yours seems very toppy.

@Granda1

Most UK homes have rubbish heating. The boiler might be new, safe and correctly rated for the house. The radiators could well be the correct size and type. But the CONTROLLER is usually rubbish. Two or three fixed duration ON/OFF cycles every day. Just like they were in the 1970s! There are at least 3 decent control systems that will save every home with oil/gas heating and water-filled radiators an absolute fortune because each room is independently wirelessly controlled and has its own thermostat that physically opens and shuts the radiator valve. So bedrooms can be 12° by day and 20° around bedtime (say 7pm-9pm for kids rooms and 10-12 for adults) Then reduced to 17° during sleeping hours and back to 19° during getting up & dressed. Living rooms, dining rooms, kitchens can all be similarly programmed to suit your lifestyle. System can detect if a window or exterior door is left open and automatically turn off the heating, and take into consideration other heat sources, like if the kitchen is being heated by cooking appliances. Some systems will automatically look at the local weather forecast online and adjust start-up times accordingly. There’s many other money saving features. A single click for “away mode” for when the house is empty. Can also be controlled by phone – so switch heating on from the car/train during your journey home. If you can work an app on your phone, you are capable of using such a system – look for “domestic zoned heating controls” in your search engine. You could get a system for the cost of reallyagain’s last year’s monthly gas bill and reduce your bill by 30-40%. And your house will be more comfortable too. Yes… I know I’m a geek, and was an early adopter of this type of system – but the whole family love it, and all friends who have experienced ours and subsequently had a similar control system fitted have been most impressed. Downsides??? Some traditional plumbers and electricians dislike these systems because they aren’t familiar with the technology. Make sure to get a plumber who is experienced at fitting such a system. You need an internet connection. The radiator valves need 2 x AA batteries, best changed every 2 years in the autumn. Operation is less good if doors are left ajar. Not suitable for complete non-techie families – though the average 15 year old will have no problem. Boiler operation might seem odd at first – eg if you set your living room to be 19° at 7:00am, the system assumes you actually WANT it to be at 19° at 7:00am, and so turn the boiler on at, say 6:00am. If the system subsequently finds that the living room is at 19° at 6:50, then tomorrow, it will not start the boiler until 6:10a.m. This is because the system is “smart” and over a few weeks it learns the characteristics of each room. Similarly, if you have the living room set be 14°at 11:15pm, and in fact, on a cold night the temperature falls to 14°at 11:06pm, it won’t fire the boiler because there would be insignificant temperature by 11:15.

This is so cool. I want it.

@Granda1 how would having a fire in a room work with the smart learning? Would it confuse the device if some days a heat source other than the one it controls significantly increased temperature, but other days did not? I like a proper fire sometimes in winter.