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?

We have a three story Victorian semi which costs a bomb to heat. With the current gas price hike the heating has stayed firmly off and we have all layered-up. YANBU.

Me too! I haven't turned my heating on yet either!

It sounds like your house needs better insulation. £660 a month is not normal.

There’s something wrong there. We’re in a 5 bed detached, Edwardian with wooden floors and our bills are half that.

@BernadetteRostankowskiWolowitz

Do you have underfloor heating? I've heard it can cost an absolute fortune.

We have underfloor heating run on electricity. Pretty big house and l like a bit of heat. Heat is on all day and night but half price at night. Our whole electricity bill last year was 2000 euro. Use dishwasher/ dryer/ immersion plus heat. 660 a month is absolutely crazy. Our highest ever was 3000 one year when teens were all studying in their heated rooms and there was a big snow.

It costs me £200 a month in a five bedroomed 3 reception room house with people who like to walk around in shorts and t-shirts. This consumption is high to me because when I lived in a three bedroomed Victorian house three years ago I was paying £85 a month. There must be something wrong with your bill. I thought that when you said in your OP that you were hit with a bill several thousand on top. For most people, I would imagine £2k a year is huge consumption, so 'several thousand' sounds ridiculous. If you really have the thermostat on 19 degrees then there is something wrong and I would get the energy company to investigate.

We have it on a thermostat of 18/19 degrees but turn it up a bit in the morning and late afternoon. Dh has a heater in the office he can blast if needed and I have an oodie ! I hate being cold but I really really hate a stuffy house and the resultant sore throat more!

How big is your heated pool op?

19 degrees is pretty normal, and he is not being unreasonable

Wow our current bill £80-£90:per month gas and electric!!

I don't have the heating on at all yet it's so bad for you, I just move more 🤣

@RosesAndHellebores

How big is your heated pool op?

She has a heated pool?!

£660 per month is definitely not normal for an average sized home. I had the heating on a lot last winter as we were at home and I refuse to be cold - badly insulated terrace - and I am pretty sure it was not more than around 150.

Why are you ignoring everyone telling you that the bill just can't be right ?

You say yours is a 3 bed Victorian house. Ours is Victorian, and we have 6 bedrooms. We have teens / young adults who seem to need to be on several devices at once, and then leave things on. We tumble dry a lot. Every time I switch suppliers, they tell me our electricity use is unusually high,but, even taking all that into account, our combined gas and electric is "only" £122pm. There is no way your bill can be right unless you permanently have it on 24/7, set really high and keep all your windows fully open all the time. Quite frankly, I don't see how it can get that high even then.

Vest, T-shirt, roll neck jumper, fingerless gloves for typing, heater on in room they’re in.

Surely that bill must be wrong? Or is he heating the house to 25 degrees 24/7. If he’s genuinely that cold it might be worth getting g a health check and checking thyroid etc.
I think 19 degrees is very reasonable. Lower is fine if you’re active but sitting at a desk I think under 18 is miserable. I’m not sure theres any need to heat the entire house if he’s only using one room. Can he go back to the office?!

I was totally miserable at DH’s grandmothers house for years (huge, 10 bed house from 1700s), very much a “put a jumper on” family and I was fucking freezing. I’d sit right next to the fire in multiple layers with a dripping nose snd cold fingers. I’m small, 5’4”, size 8 and I just don’t stay warm. It was awful. I’m also from a country with properly insulated houses. We keep our current (properly insulated) house 21 degrees but despite the floor to ceiling (triple glazed) windows the heating rarely comes on (also controlled by floor, recommend getting multiple controls to help).

We spent £120/month to heat our 2 bed Edwardian flat when we were both home in winter on Mat/shared parental leave but only kept it at 18 & completely turned heating off overnight.

@Porcupineintherough

At the moment we have it on 6am-8am and 4pm -7pm. During the day we use jumpers and heat pads to keep warm. If it gets really cold ie freezing then we'll put an oil heater on in the study.

But anyway, no way would we stick the central heating on all day, it would cost a fortune.

but surely if it;s freezing, you need to heat the house to stop the pipes freezing and bursting in the loft ? we leave the loft hatch open a few inches in cold weather.

and what happens after 7pm.
isn't the darkest night the coldest time.
surely you don't go to bed at 8pm.

@Kite22

Why are you ignoring everyone telling you that the bill just can't be right ?

You say yours is a 3 bed Victorian house. Ours is Victorian, and we have 6 bedrooms. We have teens / young adults who seem to need to be on several devices at once, and then leave things on. We tumble dry a lot. Every time I switch suppliers, they tell me our electricity use is unusually high,but, even taking all that into account, our combined gas and electric is "only" £122pm. There is no way your bill can be right unless you permanently have it on 24/7, set really high and keep all your windows fully open all the time. Quite frankly, I don't see how it can get that high even then.

Because it's probably not real?

@myusernamewastakenbyme

£660 per month...thats ridiculous....that can't be right surely...i spend that a year.

@myusernamewastakenbyme you’re right to be shocked, it is a shocking amount. It does depend on the sort of house you live in. I live in a C16th house which is hard to insulate and is sprawling so the heat is hard to get to all corners. When we come here 20 years ago it was (I think) around £500-600 a year for gas and electric, now it’s north of £5k a year and with the price hikes … I dread to think. Our heating hasn’t gone on yet and we will only run it enough to keep the system going and just heat the rooms we work in.

OH now sleeps in a night shirt no heating in bedroom. He wears thermal layer outdoors. I wrap up in layers have a rug over me in the evenings if cold. We spent two decades in a country house built of stone so we're quite hardy. Our heating kicks in if it gets cold set at 18c but can be overridden if it gets really cold.

Def get your meter checked.

Ours is set to 19 degrees all the time. It's comfortable. SIL has it set to 24 degrees as she 'feels the cold' but I feel sick with that temperature. Each to their own.

I have to admit I do not agree with the whole layering up idea... At some point the air around you had to be warm. No amount of layers warms the actual air.

But saying that, we live abroad and leccy is cheap.

@minniemoll

My heating is on from 8am till 10.30pm at 18 degrees, if I'm cold I'll turn it up a degree or two. I pay £98 for gas and electric per month (100 year old extended terrace, four bedrooms, three receptions plus kitchen). £660 pcm sounds insane!

that sounds amazingly cheap; who are you with ?

I REALLY feel the cold. I hate it, it makes me miserable. I don't work like a dog every day so I can go home to a cold house and be told to put on fucking thermals to be in my own home.

That being said:

1. I would happily pay more than 50% of bills to keep it to the temperature I want
2. That bill amount is insane. I can't believe you have accepted that, it must be a mistake. I say that as someone who has the thermostat on at 23 Celsius.