Done all that - how can I economise more?

smallgreenwellies

I'm on Npower Online Price Fix Feb 2015 for Gas and Electric. I have 5 year old double-glazed doors and windows, 18" of insulation in the loft, heavy curtains and blinds on each window and cavity wall insulation. All appliances are turned off nightly, and when not in use. My heating is set at 18C for an hour in the morning and 3 hours in the evening (7C the rest of the time).
The cost will rise again in 2015 when I finish this deal.
What else can I do?

Nada666

If you are comfortable with the heating only to 18 (and that is the actual target in your living areas) and your home is insulated then you can consider switching your heating off the timer and certainly not having it on in the morning.

Most insulated rooms should heat up to 17 degrees all by themselves without any heating ten or more months per year. If you are not elderly or sitting on your bum the entire evening then you should see what temperature the main room is when you get home and only switch the heating on days when needed. If you do this manually rather than on a timer then you can cut usage from four or five months per year to three or four weeks in many parts of Britain. (Where I am it is sweltering now despite being freezing last week.)

Having the heating on for only one hour in the morning does not seem necessary. Again check the actual temperature of the bathroom and only switch on when necessary (and only heat the bathroom in the morning.)

smallgreenwellies

Thank you for the suggestions. The heating is on a thermostat, so only kicks in when necessary. I'll try your suggestion of only switching on when necessary (If I'm out in the evening, I flip the thermostat back to 7C before I go out so it's not on unneccesarily).
Just a bit concerned about unheated rooms getting damp, although when I'm out in the daytime when the heating is off, I open all the doors so that the air can circulate, and sunny rooms share the warmth with the colder ones. I try to open windows for an hour or so at the weekends to circulate fresh air, but foggy December days are not much help.

matelodave

Look at what else uses leccy and start to economise there. LED lights instead of tungsten or even CFLs.
Turn stuff off at the wall rather than leaving it on standby and that includes appliances like cookers, microwaves, washing machines as well as TV's DVD players, computers & sky-boxes.
Reduce your hot water temperature. Take shorter showers. Only use the dishwasher, washing machine & tumble dryers when you've got full loads - use lower temperature washes as well.
You could change your heating stats for programmable units to give you a bit more control over temperatures at different times of the day - a wireless programmable one is only about £40.

A.Penny.Saved

Buy a body warmer and turn the temperature down, every degree lower makes a massive difference to energy usage.

Be aware that just because your thermostat shows 18C, doesn't mean that that is the temperature of the room where it is located.

Most thermostats that I have seen are widely inaccurate. I have had 3 basic thermostats to control my central heating and none were remotely close to the real room temperature. In my current home, the thermostat is in the lounge, I was recommended to move it to the coolest room but that wouldn't suit my room usage because I spend the majority of my time in the lounge.

The lounge thermostat has to be set to 14C to keep the lounge between 16 to 17.5C. Chances are that your room is far warmer than you believe. A more accurate thermometer, probably an old style none digital one would be most accurate. Digital ones are often 1C out, usually higher.

Don't waste CH hot water heating between the joists! Have it heat the room instead.

Making sure ALL your central heating pipework is lagged as good as possible. It can be difficult because most CH installers don't give a thought to insulation in my experience. I had to remove all my pipework to my radiators to insulate them properly because pipes were jammed into the joists in such a way that no insulation could be fitted in large areas.

So much heat is lost getting the heat to the radiators that spending some time insulating them should help maintain the CH hot water temperature in order to heat the room rather than have it wasted in places of no consequence.