How do you manage your heating/energy

[chunkyrun]

This is a very boring question. I get in and turn the heating on, let it warm up then knock it down or turn it off completely depending when I'm going bed. Wondering how other people manage their heating bill. Do you leave it on continuously low heat? Have it high and Turn it off once you're warm enough ect. I'd love to know what's the most cost effective method.

I have a thermostat and a timer so it's on and off twice a day set around 19⁰C

How long does it run for? I've just had a smart metre installed, never paid attention to usage before

Ours stays on all day coming on / off at the set temperatures.

I have hive and use an app to schedule it coming on snd off

Mine is on 6-10am and 5-10pm i think. Off during the day unless I boost it if I'm cold

Thermostat set to click on when temperature drops below 20 degrees.
Wear jumpers/layers to keep warm if it’s me home in the day.
I also use my radiators to dry my laundry to save money.
Use my slow cooker loads in winter as it’s cheaper to run than the gas/electric oven.
I change supplier to get the best deal.
Try to always stay in credit and top up if need be.
I’m very concerned about running up high fuel bills.

Balance of time and thermostat.
Currently it comes on for an hour in the morning.
And maybe once or twice a week we manually put it on for a further hour in the evening. When it gets a bit colder, I'll set the timer to come on for a couple of hours in the evening - going off before the youngest goes to bed at 8.30.

I pay £75 pm for 3 bed draughty Victorian house

For elec and gas

Set at 19 degrees
6.30 to 9am
3.30pm to 10.30pm

Always swap supplier to cheapest rate per kWh not the monthly cost

Ok don't think I'm doing to badly. I don't have heating on at all in morning as we're up and out. It's just a few hours in the evening

I don't have heating on in the morning unless someone is working from home. Then we tend to put it on upstairs only - radiators are switched off in some rooms. In the day/evening its put on as needed by adjusting the thermostat - its gets very hot quickly though. I'm not sure how this will work out cost wise, I previously had storage heaters.

To tell the truth, not too well, OP. We have a draughty Edwardian house, single pane sash windows everywhere, high ceilings - all very pretty, but heat leaks. Not helped by the fact that we have two extremely old boilers, one does heating downstairs, one does heating upstairs and hot water. No thermostat or radiator controls, it's on or off.

Currently, I have taken to retreating upstairs - everyone WFH, so we just heat upstairs for now.

We've draught-proofed windows with those brush thingies and repaired where needed so they fit better.
I change suppliers all the time to grab cheaper rates.
I have insulated the two lofts - previously only 5cm of ancient insulation, now there is is 32cm everywhere. It must make some difference, surely!
I have turned off a couple of radiators.
I have blocked chimneys with Chimney Sheep.
Next job: insulation wall boards in the window seat where the numpty who installed the storage/seating area left bits of it unplastered brickwork. And radiator reflective panels behind some of the radiators.

We're saving for an improved heating system - new boiler with thermostat and valves on the radiators, but we're a way off the £4k yet. So it's likely to be an expensive winter again!

We don’t very well.
I’m constantly flabbergasted at how much g+e costs, we are NOT on a meter but we spend around £140 a month on duel fuel. 2 bed flat. We do a lot of washing, prob 2 loads most days, some gets put on airer or hung up but rest goes in tumble drier.

I have to squeeje down the windows most mornings at this time of the year as they are soaking with condensation, i then open them all just on the latch, otherwise we get mould problems.

When the weather goes down near zero, prob 4c and below, we put the heating on for 1/2 hr in the morning -thermostat set to 12c and i put it on for around 1hr in the afternoon/eve if its very cold. We never have it much more than 12c and we never have it on for hours on end.

After a bath in the eve we put the gas fire on for around 5mins each when we have just got out of the bath(5 separate baths a day also) just to warm and dry off.

It constantly astounds me how people have 4bed properties and say they spend £100 a month or something, I don’t know where we are going wrong tbh.

Just had to leave bulb and go with another provider as even though we were slightly in credit(although not a months worth that they like you to have) based on last years usage(double what we normally spend-because of a specific problem which is now resolved) they were saying they were increasing our DD to £192 a month!!! They wouldn’t budge or accept less despite explaining why it was so high last year!

In the summer I managed to get the monthly cost down to £90 as no heating on and all washing being line dried.

I’m considering buying one of those plug in meters that you plug appliances into and it tells you how much is using as there must be something using way more than it should? Just cant get my head around why its so high.

Oh and i already do the obvious like turn most plug sockets off, turn off lights when not in the room etc etc

I heat the house for DS to get up and showered. It goes off when we leave for the school run. Then I leave it off until I fetch him at 4.30. It comes on for two hours, then off but I use the woodburner from 6pm, running on prunings and waste wood that I stack all year and so is basically free heat. That warms the house until we go to bed.

I'm not normally this mean but thanks to covid I have no income at the mo, so warm sweaters, thick socks and fingerless gloves during the day. It isn't stylish I can't wait to get a new contract

@makingmiracles . £1700 a year. That can't be right for a two bed flat.

I have an old four bed house and even when I'm working and using the heating as much as I like, it doesn't cost that much. Faced with those sorts of bills, I'd get a smart meter and track it hour by hour.

We have our 'schedule' as follows
6.30am heating on thermostat set to 18.5 degrees
9.30 heating off

2pm heating on thermostat set to 18 degrees
4pm thermostat changes to 19 degrees
9pm heating off.

We have two toddlers which means I'm much more liberal with the thermostat, I don't want them to be cold. Because we have a thermostat the heating doesn't necessarily come on for the whole period mentioned, just if the temperature drops below the stated temp.

We live in a large 5 bed Victorian end terrace, double glazing but still quite drafty in a lot of the rooms (mainly the living room due to the cellar below). We also run one of our cars on the electric which pushes up the bill.

We pay £92/month and are with Avro energy.

We have a 4 bed detached house and pay less than £30 a month for dual fuel. That is averaged throughout the year. The heating is on 7-9am and 4.30-10pm with the thermostat set to 19°. If it is cold in the afternoon it goes on for a bit. We do have solar panels, though, which means that we don't use much from the National Grid in summer.

I have mine set to 17/18 and turn off at night sometimes pop it up to 19

Struggling to set on automatic as don’t have any instructions and can’t quiet work it out

The house is well insulated

Radiators turned of in my bedroom altogether and spare room. Leave doors to these room open

We do the same as you, just turn it on and off when we fancy it. Usually bung it on for a couple of hours when we wake up and from about 5-8pm during the week. We don’t have it on once the kids are in bed as the pipes clicking / banging wake them up! We have a little electric fire in the living room where dh and I are if we get cold after that.

An hour in the morning and an hour mid afternoon. The Rayburn keeps the kitchen and surrounding rooms warmer and we light the fire on colder evenings.

We use about 2500l of oil a year, £50 a month on electricity, and perhaps two thirds of a ton of coal.