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.

I live in a fairly large, 3 bed Scottish tenement with 12ft+ ceilings which tents to be fairly chilly. We rent so we're stuck with an old style combi-boiler that doesn't give us any options around temperature control and I've never figured the timer out. We just chuck the heating on as and when we need it which means it can be on quite a lot during the winter. Our direct debit is £230 per month gas and electric with EDF on the basic variable tariff.

Double check and make sure the bill is based on actual readings and not estimates.

I know other posters have asked but if you're receiving bills and expected to pay them monthly/quarterly, I'd look at getting a DD set throughout the year. As others have said, you tend to overpay for half of the year when the heating is never on but it balances out the winter when you have it on lots. I know a lot of people are rebelling against the energy companies taking more than they need to and holding onto people's money but I just make sure I'm always providing meter readings and I check the bills to make sure they're based on actual use. It's much better to spread the cost.

If the current bill is too high for you, pay what you can and speak to them about a DD. They should be able to propose a monthly amount going forward based on your last 12 months average usage. They should also be able to split any remaining balance you have now over the next 12 months and you pay it back alongside your normal DD.

I’ve been insulating drafts round windows and doors. You can buy stuff or for a quick fix just use kitchen roll or even old tights! Anything you can ham in the gaps. Use something thick to do that like a butter knife or thin nail file etc.

if you can stop the heat escaping your heating won’t kick in as much.

Use something thin I mean lol!

Yes of course it is - people would complain if they went to an office and it wasn't adequately heated in winter.

I think a way to look at it is, yes you will pay higher energy costs if you work from home, but fewer commuting costs.

We have ours set on 20 and it has probably been on 90% of the day, (3 young kids & home a lot recently.)

I haven’t looked at my bill and frankly, don’t care. I will keep my direct debit the same £180pm, & if I die oweing utilities one day then so be it! I refuse to sit shivering in my house. As long as you’re making reasonable payments nothing will be done and you don’t incur interest so please don’t worry about paying off the whole lot quickly.

Ok so that bill is for all your energy use in one month, not just the heating? However it is likely that heating is responsible for most of it though.

Energy bills are a fuction of unit price and the number of those units you use - so you are using a lot of units of energy. It is likely your insulation is very poor so your boiler is having to work very hard to maintain a temperature of 18 degrees on your house.

7 hours is an awful lot. I also WFH but never put the heating on before about 3pm when I go to pick DS up from school. I just layer up whilst working

Can you get a heater just for the room you work in rather than heating the whole house all day?

turn the thermostat down to 17 instead and off at 9 or when the little one is in bed?

little changes may make a big difference.

Consider using (silent) electric heaters only in rooms someone is in them and not at night at all but have very warm thermal clothes and electric blanket and throws.

Your bill does sound expensive. We pay £420 per month for gas and electricity but that is Calor gas which is unregulated and very expensive when compared with mains gas. We have a large five bed detached and DH and I both work from home. I appreciate that our home is less than 10 years old so if you have an older house it may not be as energy efficient but it does seem expensive to me.

Our heat is set to 17.5 for about 14 hours a day. It feels fairly chilly quite often. Bill is going to be around 350 I think (inc electric) .7 hours on 18 is bugger all.

7hrs a day is a lot and will cost you. Try 2hrs morning and 2hrs evening. Daytime hours mine only goes on if freezing outside, I use a heated fleece first

Or better still put the money into a savings account for use in winter. Using your energy provider as a savings bank isn't a benefit to anyone but them.

Well you're very tough then.

Some of us feel the cold worse than others 😢

No, seven hours not "an awful lot" for goodness sake.

However paying £2.40.PER HOUR for heating is a lot.

You can get small electric back the chair ''throws'' with heat controls and timers (but you cannot sit on them!).

That bill is high! Ouch! but 7 hours heating also sounds like a luxury unless you are in the freezing north? Am in London and have been clicking on when feel unbearable but it’s worked out to about 2-3 hours a day, tops and much less before the super cold Saturday we just had…
could you try with an electric fleece as you work… heat the person, not the house. It’s not ideal but this is what energy costs right now unfortunately..

My house was also 11 degrees. Still didn't put the heating on!
I don't think i was being unhelpful at all. I'd sooner heat the body not the house than e
worry about a bill I cannot pay.

I read a Martin Lewis post once that doing it the way you have done isn’t efficient, even though we’ve all been told that for years.

we put it on 6 am -7 am while we are all up and getting ready and then 4-6pm.

I work from home and layer up and use a hot water bottle on my lap while I’m at my desk.

my daughter is at nursery all day so it’s heated for when she’s getting up and when she’s home from nursery

we pay about £350 in winter a month combined gas and elec for that incl pretty constant use of the dryer

It sounds like an insulation problem. I have a 3 bed semi and work from home so my heating is on 14 hours a day. I also live in the north where it's currently very cold, but my bill is nowhere near as much as yours.

Smart meter is between £6 and £7 per day atm for gas and electric - so roughly £200 a month

I'm sorry but seven hours is not a lot at all.

We are spending roughly £6 a day on gas and electric combined in a three bedroom house. Our thermostat is set to 19 and it clicks off once the temperature is reached.

I'd be getting the insulation etc checked.

I have a lakeland clothes drier and on wfh days I also do my washing, having that switched on with the door closed makes the room warm and so heating not on until later, I'm sure a small cheap to run heater would have similar effect

Might be better to turn it how as required rather than set like yours. Is the heating on in all rooms at all times? Maybe turn on and off in the rooms as required. Are you closing doors to rooms and using draft excluders in rooms to keep heat in the room? If you don't light fires it might be worth blocking fireplaces to stop loss of heat/drafts there. Heavy lined curtains might also help.

Didn’t think your response was unhelpful either. It’s interesting to see how peopl are coping with the bills as everyone is different ( my friend has her home at like 25 degrees!)
everyone would obviously prefer to pay less and be less cold!

I bought this for when there's just one person sitting in the house, costs about 10p an hour to have on.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mia-Coco-Electric-120x160cm-Certified/dp/B08FXLSSTP?th=1