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.

Hi
I am really sorry hear you are struggling. The first thing I feel you should do ring up energy company I think they have deals and financial help for people struggling and with vulnerable individuals a pre schooler I class as vulnerable age. I hope this is of help and a way forward
Things will get better xxx

Your issue is insulation and gaps. I would go round the house look and feel for any gaps. Windows. Doors, ceiling access. Then a tube of silicone. Single sided sticky window seals they come in long rolls and door draught excluders. If u spend £40 and find and fix the main culprits u will save far far more. Insulation is 99% the answer but this simple hack is the place to start.

Energy bills are extortionate at the moment, I dread opening the email from my supplier.

I have changed my timers so that heating is on for less time but I do have it at a higher temperature (old house seems to lose heat). We have lots of blankets in the lounge, electric blankets on the beds. We are fortunate in that we have a log burner but even logs are really expensive now.

What I am trying to say is perhaps change things around a bit and see what happens. If you don't have one, ask your energy supplier for a smart meter and tell them that you are going to struggle with the bills, there may be something they can do.

I have our heating set to come on at specific times in morning and evening. 3 hours each, to heat house for when everyone wakes up and when everyone gets home. I've recently joined with utilita and I've only just learned you get free electric at weekends. We pay on average so far 200£ a month for both gas and electric. Perhaps you need to change providers?

Heating is expensive.

I work from home and have mine on an hour in the morning to encourage me to get up and from 4pm. I just work with a duvet & 2 hot water bottles. I am paying £200/ month to heat a largish period 4 bed semi with sash windows and timber floors etc etc..Previously the same usage was nearly £400/month as I was in a different deal that I didn't choose after my previous supplier went bankrupt. Can you switch? I did the minute the deals came back on the market.

My living room is absolutely ***y FREEZING! It's utter misery. I WFH.

I was basically heating on (gas boiler, radiators) multiple times a day but literally it was only with the goal of heating this room.

I have just reduced the on-timer heating to just come on 5.30 am - 6.30 am (coinciding with when I have to get up with the dog!) and then it's off for the rest of the day.

So, I've bought OHS Electric Blanket. I wrap myself in this whilst working and I keep the heating off.

The only electric is the lights, kettle, microwave, air fryer, hob and I keep the lights off wherever possible, have switched to LED wherever possible and certain lights eg landings are cheap motion-activated bulbs so they can't possibly be left on.

£180/month covered it last year with a bit left over (that's for gas and electric, with Ovo).

Hear, hear. I'm 82 widow on pension and during the cold snap recently I've had it on a fair bit, but not in the rooms out of use.

Agree with this.
Then writing a fake naive thread , all wide eyed about how you are expected to pay for it.
We have ours on an hour in the morning and 2 hours evening.
Warm clothes, heated blanket.
Leaving the heating on constantly is a myth, you are just wasting money unless you never leave the house.

Check that insulation is what it should be.
Some charities will check gaps under doors and windows, install insulation etc for free and suggest ways to keep the heating bills low.
Try not to get cold - as in - dress warmly right from when you get out of your warm bed.
Wear an extra layer of fine woollen vest and socks - from hiking shop, try wearing a hat and large woollen blanket over the shoulders. (Wool is a magic; it's so warm and it breathes). Also try feathers/down. One cold Winter I was toasty warm typing under the spare doona, tent like around my shoulders.

Have you tried a jacket heated with a battery? My nephew wears one in a chilly metal factory.

Warm drinks of soups, teas and cocoa at the ready.

Actually my house is an old damp granite end terrace with a south west facing wall which has had 100 years of gales and rain and Atlantic drizzle blowing at it. I got the PIV unit because I was desperate about the mould and the damp which was everywhere. I searched online until I found one at a good price and my DP installed it for me, which I am very grateful for. This cost less than a month of the OP's heating. And actually a few people have mentioned the unit, so yes, it might well be helping. I hadn't heard of one either before a friend recommended it. Damp is a massive problem down here. It makes people ill.

It's impossible to get it over 17° actually. The heating is gas bottles as I'm off grid, which are expensive so yes I do limit my heating. And yes family do find it cold when they come and stay. But dry cold is easier to cope with and healthier than damp cold.

You're making a lot of assumptions.

I was pleasantly surprised with my first energy bill of using the heating this year.
Semi detached new build - (newish - built in 2019) have the heating on for around 4 hours a day (2 hrs in morning & 2hrs in the evening - up to to about 20 degrees).
My bill was £150 for electric & heating combined for the whole of November.
Not sure if this is because it's a new build or my energy supplier - I'm with so energy.
They won the last energy auction for their tariff being the cheapest on the market.
You can participate in a scheme called "the big community switch" - with email updates on which supplier is the cheapest once energy auctions have taken place - you can then decide to switch to that supplier with no faff, as they handle the switch process for you.
Google the scheme & get involved. Every 6 months I see if I'm on the cheapest tariff. I've switched energy suppliers twice since being in the scheme.

@Uncaffinatedheathen could you sned me a link to this info please as my supplier is up for renewal so would be very interested in free electricity at weekends!!

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I’m recommending Utilita! Join using the unique link and we both win! Get a £50 Amazon Gift Card when you sign up: https://join.utilita.co.uk?promocode=9826003801002386354&refpostcode=TN23+5TE

Is that a month??!!! Ours is set at 20°c 24/7 but we chose pay as you go and we have a smart meters so we can watch the spending (maybe add an extra layer and switch off during a day if credit is running low etc) we top up the gas £40 "maximum" a week and that's for baths and washing up daily 2bedroom flat 2kids 2adults....also stupidly we have a couple of windows constantly ajar

No I won't fuck off @Era

You can't compare eating steak to warming your home to 18 fucking C my love.

Also the dickens quote was CLEARLY tongue in cheek, I wasn't accusing anyone here of wishing death on the poor...although there is an argument for a Scrooge comparison 🤷🏽‍♀️

I'll tell you what is "downright offensive", scolding someone for having the heating on for a certain number of hours when you have no clue what type of home they're in. If that's what it takes to keep it at just 18 then all I have is sympathy for her. Telling her "well you just can't afford it" isn't helpful. She already knows she can't afford it, sometimes people just want to let off steam, sometimes they post in hopes that someone will have practical advice, whatever it is pointing out the obvious isn't needed and is pretty cold hearted. Read the room.

If it is just you in the house in the day I would have it on for an hour in the morning to get up and have breakfast then use an electric throw until the evening.

It's looking that way although I'm mindful that some people genuinely struggle to pay high bills and it's not a choice for them.

I think it is much more common than some higher earners on here realise. I'd say the vast majority who limit heating are doing so for financial reasons rather than it being any sort of 'competition'.

It's not about competitive anything ffs. It is about there being people across every generation and class divide being unable to afford to fully heat their homes so they have to make a crippling choice.

It isn't a new thing, there has been a winter fuel allowance for pensioner's for over a decade because it is well known that there is an increased correlation between the elderly being excessively cold and higher death rates.

The problem is, it is no longer reserved for the pathetically low state pension reliant. The greed of energy giants means that even people on reasonable "middle class" incomes are thinking twice before turning the heating on.

Your pathetically bitchy comment only serves to paint you as completely socially unaware. Educate yourself on what life is really like for the vast majority of the population.

Is the foul language necessary?

@Onceuponaheartache I agree, the bitchy 'competitive' comments should stop. This winter will be worse than last year for many with the loss of the £400 in winter payments, the lower unit rates will not make up for that.

That’s what we do- put heating on for half an hour to take the chill off then put lots of warm clothes on including a uddie and sit watching tv under a heated over blanket. It’s lovely and cosy.

We have ours down at 15 during the day. Both WFH. Just wrap up warm - lots of jumpers/oodies. I've been known to keep wooly hat on indoors. Heating comes on for an hour up to 18 degrees when daughter gets home, and again in evening for a couple of hours max.

That seems very high. For context our bill for November was £238 and we are the same as you- 18 and off at night, detached house

I WFH and the heating is on 7-8 when the kids are up and before we go out and then at 4.30 till about 6.30 for when they get in up to bath time ish. I use a small oil filled rad if I get cold during the day or just wrap up. Weekends it’s on in the middle of the day for a bit too. Definitely not 7 hours a day.