Heating

The cold weather has certainly hit us now but with the rising energy prices, we are all aware about the cost of heating out homes and looking for ways in which we can reduce our usage. Although you want to try and keep your bills as low as possible, it is also important to make sure that you are warm. This is especially true if you are elderly or vulnerable or if you have very young children who cannot regulate their body temperature as much and may not be able to tell you if they are cold.

Try and work out the best time to put the heating on. It may be that you manage throughout the day and only det it to come on in the evening when the temperature drops even more. When you do put it on, be sure to turn off any radiators in rooms that do not need to be heated as this will help same the amount of gas central heating you need to use. You may find that you only need to put the heating on for an hour or so as this could be enough to keep the rooms warm throughout the night. You want to ensure that you retain the heat as much as possible. Closing doors is a great way to keep the heat in. You should also try and close curtains and put curtains across doors that lead to the outside to help reduce the amount of heat wasted.

This year energy companies are set to hike their prices up a lot which may mean that the average family has to fork out another £150-£200 per year. The last 18 months or so have been extremely hard for many people anyway due to Covid so this price increase could not have come at a worse time.

If you have been notified that your prices are set to increase then you may want to start shopping around for a better deal. There are some great comparison sites out there that allow you to put in your usage or your usual spend and see if you could save money by switching.

If you have electricity and gas with the same company then you often get a discount for dual fuel.

If you are on a low income then you may be able to get financial help such as the warm home discount. This will allow you to apply for a discount of around £130 off your electricity bill every year. This can make a big difference and may reduce your monthly direct debits by around £10 a month.

Always contact your supplier before switching to a new provider as they may well be able to offer you a better deal if you choose to stay with them.

It is at this time of the year that we rely on the heating system in our homes to keep us warm and cosy but what if you feel that despite having the heating on your home fails to get to a comfortable temperature and you find yourself having to snuggle under layers of blankets to get warm?

There are a few things that you can check yourself before resorting to getting an expert heating engineer into your home. The first thing to check is whether the heating in the home is working correctly. If there are radiators in the house, they should feel warm all over not just in one area. If they are not getting hot all over then they may need bleeding to release trapped air in the system. Another simple solution is to check whether the radiators are fitted with thermostatic radiator valves and that they are set at the temperature required for the room as you may not want bedrooms as warm as other rooms.

Most heating systems have a room thermostat fitted to regulate the temperature for a room. Be aware that if the thermostat is in a hallway the heating will switch off once that room reaches the set temperature so do not set those radiators too high otherwise the heating will switch off before the other rooms are warm.