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?

Last winter we were spending around £15 a day on gas and electricity (according to the smart meter) whilst working from home. Heating ser at c.20 degrees. So thats around £450 a month in the coldest months. Our house is bug but well insulated, so I can see how an older less insulatex house could cost more. We bought 2 oil filled electric heaters for the two offices we use so we only heat them whilst working from home. Has reduced the bill considerably.

Ps I am at home all day

Are you on mains gas, OP? We aren’t and our gas bills are similarly gigantic. (Another ‘perk’ of country living.)

@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

Wow!! I mean I guess it depends how electricity dependent your WFHing is maybe?? That's loooooads.

The rule here is if you have jumper on and warm socks on and are still cold then heating can go on.

Get a winter duvet each if you haven't got one already. And a dressing gown. And a blanket for mooching in the house.

We don't have heating on at night just the first hour while we drift off then a little bit before we get up.

Oh and yes get an oil heater if its just the one room that needs heating

The meter isn't faulty

I'd say 19/20 is a decent temperature. And he needs to start wearing pjs!

I live in a 1920's house with sash windows our combined gas and electric cost us £257 per month, that's husband working from home. For a three bed that is frightening how much you're paying and yes husband needs to stop being such a woose and layer up, he sounds like a miserable tightwad.

I’ve not read all the suggestions, but have you insulated your house sufficiently? You could also get a smart meter.

I can’t imagine arguing with my husband because he is cold and wants the heating on. I also can’t imagine a scenario where I’d ask that he pays more money. Do you want him to be cold OP? He works from home, the environment should be at a comfortable temperature otherwise productivity will drop. I’d tell my husband where to go if he tried to dictate when I could put the heating on.

Forgot to say 1920's 5 bed house, gas and electric being £159 per month.

Gosh that's so expensive op.
Over winter last year our gas and electricity was estimated at £90pm,we then got a bill of £800+ but that was for 3 or 4 months.

I much prefer a cool house (I'm never cold anyway) and I hate the CH being on. DH thinks he should be able to sit there in shorts in the depths of winter with the heating on. It's incredibly frustrating! We haven't had the heating on so far this winter though.

Is there anything else you are using a lot OP, what proportion of the bill is gas, gas is a lot cheaper that electric and very high bills are generally caused by high electricity use rather than gas. Gas is about 3-5p a unit and electric 20-25p.

I can think of few things worse than creeping from room to room in a big coat and fingerless gloves, the entire winter. Miserable!

You still haven't said what the central heating is set too...

@reallyagain

The meter isn't faulty

How many units were you using?

Is your meter recording cubic feet or cubic metres?

@reallyagain

Do people feel 19 degrees is ok, or what sort of range?

I don't understand why you are asking this to be honest. It doesn't matter what temperature everyone else feels comfortable at - your husband is telling you he feels uncomfortable in the cold.

I don't understand why you are paying so much for heating and I think that's what you need to look into. Do you need to change suppliers? Is your house insulated?

It's not reasonable to expect your husband to sit there all day feeling cold, that sounds miserable.

£660/month is incredibly high. I was paying £58/month with Avro, now £76/month with Octopus. I live in s four bed, three storey old house. I have the heating on set at 18° whenever I feel cold.

This thread is strange. The OP doesn't seem bothered by everyone telling them their bill sounds too high although it's not been clarified what the annual bill is.

We live in a Victorian house but renovated. So we have insulated under the floorboards downstairs, insulated the external solid walls internally and put in loft insulation. Sealing drafty doors/windows also helps. You can make an old house warm but I guess it can be very disruptive and expensive. However, the cost you’re spending in the winter months is extortionate so I think worth looking into. LED lightbulbs are also a quick win for reducing costs.

We don’t have ours on yet but when we do we set it to 20 on the thermostat for daytime hours and leave it. It comes on and off between the set hours as is needed. But our bills are nothing like that at all.

Imagine if this was reversed: my husband won't let me have the heating on so I have to work in the cold all day and go to bed in a cold house.

People would be screaming LTB !!

Op hasn’t told us what her thermostat is set to, or indeed where she lives.

I’m guessing 30 degrees in Northern Alaska.

We got little heaters for the rooms we work in & I wrap a blanket over my legs. I cant justify hearing the whole house I also found going for a walk at lunchtime helped.