Cut your heating bills: tips for your radiator, thermostat, boiler and more

The temperature is falling, but that doesn't have to mean paying sky-high energy bills. Here are our top tips for keeping warm without wasting money.

Millions of households are facing a challenging Winter, with energy prices having just jumped £149 and a brutal tax-hiking Budget looming. 

With the nights drawing in and the temperature starting to fall, we'll soon enter the truly high-energy usage period. 

To help keep costs to a minimum over the coming months without having to make drastic cutbacks, we've listed all our top tips for heating a home for less.

Please note that some of the tips here will only really work if you're looking to save money in the long-term. However, most of them can be done immediately.

Layer up

Let’s get one of the most obvious ones out of the way first. Putting on more layers will keep you warmer so that you don’t have to put the heating up quite as high.

Our reader has tested this and various other classic energy-saving tips for herself: see how she got on here.

Heat your home by doing some cooking

Make your evening’s casserole double as an evening’s heating. Better yet, you could do a few batches in one go to make the most of that oven heat. 

Lock into a fixed-rate energy tariff

One of the fastest and easiest ways to reduce your energy costs is to switch to a cheaper tariff.

Loads of suppliers are offering fixed-rate deals that are notably cheaper than the Energy Price Cap, which is what most of us are on.

Price comparison site uSwitch estimates a typical household will save up to £90 a year by switching to one of these deals.  

If you’ve not already locked into one, take a few minutes to do so. 

Get cavity wall insulation

A number of energy suppliers will provide free insulation if you are on certain benefits.

With cavity wall insulation you can save between £90 and £275, depending on what kind of home you live in.

Get loft insulation

You can get free or discounted loft insulation from most of the 'Big Six' energy suppliers.

Just answer a few questions to see if you’re eligible (about 90% of homes are), arrange an installer to come and visit and get your loft insulation installed in less than a day.

Don't forget underfloor insulation

Older houses with suspended floors are likely to let more heat out of the floor so it’s worth looking into underfloor insulation. 

New builds tend to have polystyrene insulation a few inches below the concrete floor surface, but you could still get insulation if you want to save that bit more on your heating.

You can do this by adding an insulating layer like fibreboard or polyfoam under your carpet or floor covering.

Alternatively, you could go for underfloor insulation if you have a hatch that lets you get into the crawlspace under the floorboards. Or you could save yourself a lot of bother by getting someone in to do it.

Take advantage of the discounts you’re eligible for

The Warm Home Discount could get you up to £140 off your electricity bill.

You can qualify if your electricity supplier is part of the scheme, your or your partner’s name was on the bill and/or you were getting the Guarantee Credit element of Pension Credit.

You may also be eligible if you’re on a pre-pay or pay-as-you-go meter.

The Cold Weather Payment is available to you if you get certain benefits like Pension Credit, Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance and Universal Credit.

You’ll get a payment if the temperature in your area is recorded as or forecast to be zero degrees Celsius or below for seven consecutive days.

You’ll receive a payment of £25 for each seven-day period of very cold weather between 1 November and 31 March.

Download a thermostat app

If you’ve got a thermostat that can be connected to mobile devices, a thermostat app could be really beneficial to you. 

You've probably seen the adverts for Hive, with the animation and the annoyingly chirpy rhyme which goes alongside. 

Hive - which comprises of a physical thermostat, a receiver that communicates with your boiler and a hub that connects it all to the internet – can be controlled via an app on your computer, tablet or smartphone.

The app tells you what temperature your home is and gives you the option of changing it. 

Set different temperatures for different rooms

Putting different radiators at different temperatures isn't always easy to remember, but it is useful.

Say you’re in the living room for the evening. You’ll want to have a bit of heat in your room for when you want to go to bed later, so you should keep the heating on, but the temperature low.

This saves you money on heating and stops you from being freezing cold in bed.

Programme or time heating

You can set an automatic timer to turn your heating on and off at various points during the day.

Programmers are a bit better in that they allow you to set different temperatures for each day and customise it throughout the week so you don't waste heat at the weekends.

You might want to buy a programmer that lets you override your normal pattern so that you can change it at short notice if your schedule is a bit erratic.

Consider getting a smart meter installed

The push to have smart meters installed in every home continues apace.,

While smart meters won't actively reduce your energy bills as some people think they will help give you a clearer picture of how much energy you're using so you can take steps to cut consumption yourself.

They also send meter readings directly to your supplier so that no one will have to come to your house to do a reading and you’ll be paying for the energy you actually use.

Shop around for a cheaper energy deal now and save up to £90 (opens in new page)

Opt for a brass radiator key

Radiator keys are necessary for ‘bleeding’ your radiators to prevent air blockages, which damage the effectiveness of your radiator. You’d be better off with a brass radiator key than a steel one as they’re much less likely to snap. 

Put some tin foil behind your radiators

The idea here is that a sheet of foil behind your radiator will reflect heat back into the room rather than escaping through the walls.

If you want to go down the DIY route, you can fix some standard silver foil behind the radiator with sticky tape, or put it over some cardboard to help fit it more securely.

You could also buy specialist radiator foil from most hardware stores. You can pick up a four-metre roll from Screwfix for £5.99.

Buy a radiator booster

A radiator booster is a long tube that sits on top of your radiator, acting as a small fan.

It provides more warmth by dispersing the air that gets trapped behind the radiator and can raise the temperature in a room by as much as three degrees.

They're widely available from around £25-£35. 

And a radiator shelf

Shelves that are fitted above radiators deflect rising heat which is said to make rooms warmer.

Shelves are more effective if they’re fitted above radiators which are underneath windows so that the bottom of the curtain rests on the shelf, preventing warm air being trapped between the curtain and the window.

Keep furniture and clothes away from your radiators

Keeping these things away from the radiator will allow heat to circulate more freely around the room.

Set your thermostatic radiator valves to low

At least to start with. Then you should gradually turn it up until it leaves the room at a comfortable temperature when the heating is on.

Turning it to a higher setting won’t make the room heat up any faster; that depends on the boiler size and radiator size.

Keep your heating on a low setting when you go away

Keeping your heating on a low setting when you go away will stop your pipes from freezing up, saving you a potentially hefty repair bill when you get back.

Read more at How to protect your water pipes.

Block off draughts

You’d be surprised at how many draught sources you have in your home.

There are a load of materials that you can use including sealant and Polyfiller to block cracks in the wall and sealant strips for the windows.

Even things like a keyhole disc and letterbox flap will help keep the hallway warmer. Buy a chimney balloon if you’ve got a coal-fired chimney as a lot of heat escapes through the chimney too.

Hang up some lined curtains

Lined curtains make a difference when it comes to how much heat is released from your home. They're a bit heavier so they keep more warmth in.

Open and close them at the right times

Opening curtains during the day is important, particularly if you live in a home with south-facing windows as they tend to let more light and heat in.

Close them at night to keep said heat in.

Buy a more energy-efficient boiler

If your boiler is more than 10 years old, you should consider getting a shiny new one installed.

We've covered this in more detail in our guide to saving on a new boiler but, in short, the fact that energy costs are so high means the penalty for having a wasteful boiler is far greater than it's ever been.

In fact, our official partner Boiler Guide estimates you'll save a whopping £580 a year by ditching an inefficient boiler, so it'll soon pay for itself.

Have your boiler serviced

Perhaps your boiler is just acting up and you don’t quite know what’s going on. In this instance, your boiler might simply need a service.

You should get it serviced annually anyway so check when you’re due. It should take a good hour so make sure you’ve got a proper service rather than just a basic safety check.

Go for a premium heating oil for your boiler

Around four million households across the UK are not connected to the UK's gas network, and will instead have an oil boiler. 

There are two different types of oil available for oil boilers: gas oil and kerosene. Kerosene has its fans as it’s a lighter and ‘cleaner’ fuel. In cold weather, it shouldn’t form crystals that stop the oil from flowing as easily.

You can buy a premium type of kerosene that contains additives that help it to burn easier and more efficiently. It’ll cost about £20-£30 more per 500 litres than standard kerosene.

Alternatively, you could buy additives yourself.

A £15 bottle will treat about 1,000 litres of heating oil. For certain boilers, you’ll need to use additives, but you can find out more from your manufacturer.

Install double- or triple-glazing

Double-glazed windows keep more heat in, meaning that you don’t have to turn your heating up as high to keep your home warm.

You'll also get less noise and bother from outside so it's useful for a peaceful Saturday night in.

Were you born in a barn?!

You’ve heard it since childhood, but it’s true. Closing doors in your house will keep the heat in as well as stopping cold air from circulating from unoccupied rooms.

Cuddle a hot water bottle

If all else fails, get a hot water bottle on the go. It means that you won’t be as reliant on the heating to keep you warm at night, nor will you have to invest in an electric blanket.

Top tip: fill your bottle at the same time as you fancy a cuppa and you can avoid having to boil your kettle twice.

Get the lowdown on energy:

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