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.

Surveyor here, with a line of business in building physics / housing performance. On temperatures:

1. There are no actual regulations on the temperatures we should heat homes to in the winter. As one poster says, if you can't afford it, you can't afford. Plus, different people are comfortable at different temperatures.
2. Instead architects who are interested in this sort of thing design to NHBC/CIBSE standards which are indeed that heating systems should be capable of producing 21°C internally. Architects and builders should also design for the building fabric that should deliver an 'energy efficient' home ie one that rates highly on the EPC scale
3. But none of this applies to homes already built! They are all very different and often need significant amounts of repair and investment to run heating effectively.
4. For all homes, there is plenty of evidence that for the very old, the very young and folks with certain health conditions, cold, damp homes (roughly <18°, although studies vary) are very bad for you. The excess mortality from poor housing runs into the 10s of 1000s each winter.
5. There's also evidence that low temperatures bad for your mental health.

So in summary, heat the home to whatever suits you, ideally with as little carbon as you can. For many people a cold home (yes below 18°c) is stressful and unhealthy and anything you can do to reduce heat losses will be good for you and good for the planet. If (big if) you can afford it.

I couldn’t cope with a sudden huge bill. I much prefer to feel small pain by overpaying the rest of the year. Hopefully the OP can arrange a payment plan to even out the cost monthly.

It is. But heating the whole house to 18oc just to keep you warm is madness. Buy an oil filled radiator for £50 and just heat the room you are working in all day, and just use the central heating for an hour or two morning and evening.

For the millions that this is reality for it is just reality, theres no 'well a study said that I should'. Its not an active choice, its something we have to live with and do (no one is dropping down dead of heart attacks as soon as it goes under 16 btw).

Actually people with respiratory conditions can and do die of cardiac arrests in such temps.

It’s shit that so many of us live in badly insulated homes and can’t afford to keep warm.

My house costs too much to heat and is open plan. I can’t afford to heat my house and I am already in debt due to my divorce. I would do anything to be able to pay the heating bill. You are insensitive. I am not proud that I can’t afford to heat my home! I am embarrassed as fuck but I didn’t know my husband would leave me in the shit. I would love a smaller house that I can get warm but until I am divorced I am stuck where I am. Being cold is miserable and I really can’t handle it.

7 hours is excessive imo. My heating goes on for an hour in the morning and maybe 2 in the evening.

Wfh makes life difficult but maybe get a small electric fab heater and just heat where you work rather than heating the whole house.

Can you do a usage comparison from this time last year, I understand prices are higher etc but it would help to check usage to make sure nothing is amiss.
They can pull those bills for you if you don't have them already. Then contact energy company and if all is above board set up a payment plan. Figure out your disposable income first and then put an amount from that to them. Also look at any help you can get.

Also as an aside you've said it's a 3 bed home for just you and dc , maybe think about where your going with finances op as you could potentially sell and downsize given that your struggling re bills etc. Be a sensible thing to do.

No. Seven hours a day is not excessive in a damp chilly climate in the middle of bloody winter.

Someone ought to able to NOT be freezing for less than £2.60 an hour

We put our heating on at 12º for four minutes on Christmas Day morning, just to thaw the ice.
Anything else is ridiculous.

Could it be an estimated bill?
Do you have/ can you get a smart meter? It helps you see what you are spending although obviously the standing charge is added
Switch off radiators you aren't using
Is the thermostat in a colder area? If it's near the front door, it might be draughty
Otherwise it's a case of layering up and hot water bottles
Film on windows, draught excluders etc
You may find it's cheaper to actually just put heating on when necessary
I have an ancient boiler without thermostat and control the radiators which helps
See if you can change to direct debits which balance through the year

It is still making the room warmer so it is heating. One day or seven.

Wow that seems a lot of hours a day? We usually put it on for around an hour on the morning and an hour on the evening. Luckily our house is quite warm and we don't like it too hot.

OP please also bear in mind that the temperatures this last week have been much colder than the early autumn. If your house has high heat loss it will mean the amount of energy needed to heat it will rocket up.

If you're doing any comparisons on heating energy, then you need to make a note of external temperature as that makes a big difference to the heating demand.

Yes I agree. A friend of mine has been bragging about not using the heating and then wonders why her house has so much mould on the walls and ceilings. She has also had a persistent cough for the last two months and I can't help wondering if the two things are connected.

Not funny.
Some people really cannot pay heating bills and have nothing else to give up.

Bloody hell you spendthrift.

I light my fire once a year. I use scavenged litter for fuel. If I'm lucky.

We are poor. But we're HAPPY.

Jesus talk about being tone deaf.

You can afford it - lucky you. Others can't FFS.

I'm not making a joke.

I'm having a go at those people who are telling the OP that seven hours a day is extravagant and she ought to be able to cope with what they (allegedly) are using.

No one using the heating for less than a third of the day in bloody December during a cold, damp spell should be harangued about it.

No, those people are saying that it is normal not to use the heating for seven hours a day because lots of people can't afford it.

You're being crass and insensitive. The OP herself can't afford it.

As I said above....

It's disgraceful that posters are telling the OP that seven hours a day is unnecessary.

read my other posts.

7 hours a day is not excessive when it's constantly below 5C outside and very damp.

OK clearly I have been misunderstood here.

In that case I'll leave it at that.

OP, you have my sympathies. It's an outrageous amount.

Is that a combined bill, we are in a 4 bedroom house quite well insulated. Like you ours comes on when it gets cold, gass bill was only £70 last month, but around £200 for both.

What is your insulation like?

What is the point of telling the OP that she should be able to afford to have her heating on for seven hours. She can't afford it whether she "should" be able to or not. You're being ridiculously insensitive.

On the weekends, if we're home, we mostly have the heating on unless we're asleep in the dead of night. In the week, as well as when we get up and the hours of the evening, if one of us is WFH, the heating is on when the temp drops in the afternoon. 7 hours is not excessive in the dead of winter. If you can spread out the cost over a few months, by all means do, but I would be reluctant to turn the heating off and would say it is worthwhile being warm if you can afford it.