How much are you using the heating in this cold snap?

spankymonkey_2

if i am home alone i have heating come on 6.30 to 9 am,so its warm for when children get up, then on again at 2.50 pm in time for them to get home..... hate it when they dont have school ,they moan because they are cold! so i have to put it on all day...but low

bryanb

Rusty! wrote: »

Mine's running no differently to normal, it probably has to work a bit harder granted, but I've not changed a thing.

That's right, if you've got thermostatic controls and a decent timer why change anything? If 20 degrees is the temp you need what difference does the weather outside make?

Fire_Fox

Heating our main living area for two hours a day, only on the very cold winter days (so all this week!). I am often home during the day, and the windows are open for an hour or two most days so I think we are being pretty frugal. No heating in the rest of the flat, just my beloved electric underblanket.

Mazio_2

Magentasue wrote: »

My view is that I work, earn money and am happy to spend £5 a day on gas in the winter. OH doesn't feel the cold as much as me, four kids (all 15+ now) are like me and like the house warm. We don't heat it at night or when we're out but I don't resent paying to heat the house and we can afford to do it.

When the children were younger and I wasn't working or earning a lot less, we couldn't afford to heat more than one room. I don't see heating more than one room as essential and certainly not worth getting into debt over. But I don't want to live that now I don't have to. I'd give up TV, Sky and takeaways before giving up my central heating.

I agree 100% with this and iam in the same situation but that doesnt mean I like wasting money and still believe insulation / draught proofing and using energy sensibly is the key to warm property and reasonable energy cost even at these very high prices.

worried_jim

according to imeasure about £13 pw- 2 bedroom flat. never have it on all day though.

housebug

We're in a new-ish built 2 bed flat. Top floor. Not that that's helping ie: free heat rising from the flats under us, (no concrete between the floors in this building) as the other tenants are seldom in.

I don't think we've had the C/H on more than half a dozen times since October. Its just too expensive and we're trying to save for other things. Not line the utilties companies pockets. We rely on the gas fire in the front room and if the rest of the house is cold, so be it. I've gotten used, sort of, to showering in a cold bathroom. We got our gas bill from EDF for Nov/Dec/Jan and it was nearly £200. And they've overestimated it, as usual, by 100 units so I'm trying to get thru to give them the correct reading and an accurate bill.

£200 to heat one room. So that's £65-£70 a month. And we're still cold. I am SO glad this is our last Winter in England. You'd think it was the 19th, rather than the 21st century. Heat and electric the priviledge of the wealthy only. :mad:

And rant over, thanks for listening.

skylight

2-bed house, but 7 people (including baby), so heating is on 24/7. Anything from 10/15 overnight to 15/20 during the day (never higher).

I pay £40 a month for gas and after working out last night from readings I took yesterday, we are about £17 in the red on the next bill (approx) to happy enough.

Not so happy on electricity though! We will be about £140 in the red at the end of this month so am taking action today by noting meter readings twice a day to prove to OH just how much we are spending and when. (Cos he has a habit of leaving everything on when he comes to bed).

debtfreein4years

not much more than normally. have it on for about an hour and a half in the morning and then on for about 3 hours at night with the temp thing set to 15 degrees but up to 17.5 degrees when its really cold. (theromostate thing is in the cold hall) im in during the day and would rather sit with a quilt over me than have the heating on.

jtb2412

Did a bit of an experiment here over the last 2 weeks with our heating and electricity:

Week 1 - heating on between 6am and 8am and then 5pm to 8.30pm - hot water the same times, topped up with 1 hour boost a couple of times during the week but other times just put extra warm clothes on = Gas usage 49 units and electric was 113 units. (Thermostat on about 20 most of the time when on)

Week 2 (this week just gone) - heating on most of the time but thermostat set to about 18 (turned down to about 15 overnight for 3 nights) = Gas usage 42 units and electric was 95.

So, for us it works out better to have the heating on most of the time and the house kept at a more or less constant temperature flicking the thermostat up or down as required.

I always thought it was cheaper to keep the heating off !

Magentasue

jtb2412 wrote: »

I always thought it was cheaper to keep the heating off !

It probably is. You need to compare like with like, not 20deg one week and 18 deg the next. Try a week at 18deg set times - probably cheaper still. Assuming outside temp comparable and other variables controlled.