To ask how I’m supposed to pay this heating bill?

[ye10000]

This month I put the heating on set to 18. It automatically clicks off when it’s got to 18 and it goes off entirely at 10pm until the morning. I’ve looked at usage and it says the heating has been on an average of 7 hours a day. This had meant a bill of 502 pounds. We are in a three bed detached. That is almost a quarter of my income and I have one dc in nursery, single parent. I am so worried about the coming months, is 7 hours a day average a lot? I thought I was being careful.

7 hours is a lot to me....I haven't turned my heating on at all; heated throws and once a week log burner suffices. And I'm retired and at home all day.

But to someone else it may be nothing at all. If you can,t afford it ( however unfair it seems) you can't use it.

Are you at home during the day?

£500 odd for a month for energy is a lot. Is it gas or electricity?

Ours is on 7-8.30 and 5-8 in the evening, it's a monstrous cost, but I'd prioritise it when kids are at home.

Our bill this month was £550 gas and elec combined. It’s an absolute joke. Heating is on at points throughout the day as it gets unbearably cold otherwise. I’m not turning it off though

7 hours is quite a lot, I prefer to just click ours on when I feel chilly.

What an unhelpful reply!

Glad you're warm enough with a heated throw and your log burner (which IS heating, BTW) but some of us aren't that lucky.

I'm in a one bed flat with three external walls and it's been fucking freezing. Was 11c inside yesterday so no choice but to use the heating!

We are in a big detached 4 bed. heating set to 18 at night and about 19.5 in the day. £285 a month with Octopus.

That's a high bill. We have monthly DD so that works out to £250 per month but for 12 months, home all day stat set to 20c. Our house is well insulated though. Do use throws in the evening but the house is not cold. Contact your supplier and discuss how they can help you manage your bills.

I set mine to come on about 15 mins before I am due to get up (varies each day) and then go off 15 mins before I am due to leave. If I am wfh it stays on until about 9am.

Then it’s off all day until either 15 mins before I am due home, or around 5 if I am wfh. It goes off around 9. Obviously the boiler isn’t fired up all this time.

Why is your heating on all day?

We've had ours on about 3 hours a day at 18 degrees so far, I do think 7 hours is a lot.

My house doesn’t seem to be well insulated 🙁

it drops 5 degrees in around 7 hours, if I didn’t have the heating on, it would be around 14 degrees in here.

we got a bill last month of very nearly £500. Ours is a 5 bed though

I'd look at changing your supplier. We're in a 4 bed terrace and heating is on most of the day (we both WFH and DH has a circulatory condition that is triggered by cold) our bill is around £300 a month at the moment. Big, but not £500.

Also look for free loft insulation etc. Made a massive difference to our heating bills.

Can you improve the insulation? Is your loft fully lagged? These things do make a difference.

When was your boiler last serviced? Regular servicing helps keep them more efficient too.

That sounds a lot. Better insulating your home will help with running costs but obviously costs upfront

we have a heatpump and ours is on 24/7 (as heatpumps are) and we expect to pay £300 or thereabouts in jan for a 5 bed house. We both wfh so the house is warm all the time.

when we had gas central heating we’d put on 6.30-8ish am and perhaps 5-9pm. Which is 5.5 hours - I don’t think 7 hours is a bit ask if you work from home. You could reduce it a bit if you work out though.

Ours is far less for a big draughty house. Do you heat the whole house to 18? We just turn the heating on in the rooms we are using.

Why’s it set all day at 18? Are you making sure unused rooms aren’t being heated? If DC is in nursery and assuming you’re at work then it only needs to be on for max 1 hr when you get up and a couple for when you get home. You can boost it for half an hour or an hour when needed. Ours goes off when dc gone to bed and we use blankets on the sofa.

People can brag about not using heating all they want (and they do, incessantly) but heating is necessary for both the health of the house and one's own health.

Do you pay by direct debit each month? We pay about £275pm for gas and electricity combined. In the warmer months we use less that £100pm, which means by the time is gets cold we have a lot if credit in our account. I think last year we used over £500 worth of gas and electricity in November, December, January and Feb but this was balanced by the months we used less.
My heating comes on a 6.30am and I turn it off around 10pm So it's on over 15hrs a day.
How well insulated your house is will make a big difference to how much you are paying too.

7 hours is lots. We have an old draughty place so only heat it in sections and write off some rooms in winter.

we have it on 2hrs a day on some floors and top up perhaps 1 or 2 extra hours if needed (no thermostat and has to be manual)

We’re on oil and £1800 does us around 5 - winter months with this heating pattern.

This is why the 'advice' on here to cancel direct debits was awful. Your bill in summer months will be under £30 per month. If you pay £100 (or whatever) each month year round, these winter bills won't hit you anywhere near as hard.

These posts are very hard to compare - depending on where you live in the country, your house size & type (terrace usually warmer than detached), how well it's insulated and your type of heating means that costs can vary wildly and that's before you even get to the different tariffs people are on.

I live in the NE and this weekend it went down to -10 in places round here, yet my brother down south it was 2 degrees at the same time - funnily enough our heating demands are quite different.

There is no point in comparing monthly costs with random other people, you need to look at making sure you are on the best tariff for you, minimising heat loss (drawing curtains, draughtproofing, insulating etc) and optimising heating for your needs within your budget. I know it's easier said than done but sit down and think about it, it's worth 5mins if you can make some savings.
Lots of thin layers, wearing socks and slippers, drawing curtains (& if necessary getting thicker curtains) and tucking behind rads as soon as it gets dark. Keeping doors closed, hot water bottles / warm pads to keep you toasty.

7 hours is a lot, does it need to be set to 18? Ours is set to come on morning and evening for 1.5 hours, and then we click it on if we need to... generally that seems to be when it's 15 degrees. We wear jumpers and blankets in winter while wfh, maybe put it on for lunch. If it's a really cold day like the weekend we have it on much longer, but today it's quite mild so no need.

Well is that £500 only for gas or is it gas and electric ?

I reckon gas heating shouldn't cost more than £2 an hour in an average house. In fact with the current pricing it should probably be less than £1 an hour. So 7 hours about £7 a day which is £210 a month.

If you are in a 3 bed detached either it is very poorly insulated or you are not trying to save energy.

People on here can help you reduce your bills, but in order to do so you will need to go into a lot more detail and answer questions about your energy usage.