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Fuel bills are always higher in the winter, as heating goes on and lights are needed earlier and earlier. Warmth and light are absolutely necessary, hence the fuel allowance provided to over 60s by the government each year. But if you don’t qualify for any help with energy costs, or want to reduce your bills anyway, there are a few things you can do to help other than the obvious things like using energy saving bulbs and turning off anything unnecessary. These things don’t take much effort and might not seem much on their own, but over time and used together can make a difference, in winter in particular…

• Open curtains on south facing windows during the day to let sunlight heat the room, and make sure you close them again at night. Keep curtains on north facing windows shut if you’re not going to be in, to help retain warmth.
• Try turning the temperature setting for heating and hot water on your boiler down a bit. You might find you don’t need them quite as hot, and if you really need to you can always turn it up again.
• Time showers, baths and washing up to coincide with when the heating’s on so that the water in the system is already hot. It won’t take as long to get hot water out of the tap and the room will be warmer too.
• Keep doors to rooms that aren’t being used or heated closed, to keep the heat in the rooms you are using. Remember that bedrooms need to be a bit cooler than living rooms, in order to get to sleep comfortably [1].
• Check around external doors, windows and anywhere else draughts might be getting through, and where possible block these up. Even covering a keyhole will prevent cold air getting in. Depending on the scale and location of the draught you can use sealant, foam strips, bubble wrap or even newspaper, particularly if it’s out of sight or you want to be able to let cool air in again during the summer. The Energy Saving Trust has a guide to draught-proofing that gives ideas on where to look for draughts and how best to stop them [2].
• Particularly for internal doors that let draughts through, get a draught excluder. These can be bought cheaply, or you can make your own using some fabric and something like bean bag filling, old rice or newspaper to fill it. Use a piece of fabric slightly longer than the door and wide enough to cover the gap when doubled up and filled, and stuff it with the filling. Use an old pair of tights or another piece of fabric to hold the filler if you want to be able to take the cover off to wash. You can make the draught excluder into a snake by adding eyes and a tongue!
• Cutting out draughts should allow you to turn your thermostat down slightly, saving energy and money. If you can turn it down by 1^oC you can save 10% on your heating bill [1]. It sounds obvious but adding extra layers of clothing, blankets and quilts will also help with this.
• Use the timer setting on your thermostat. Modern thermostats will allow you to program different times for different days. This is more efficient than just turning the heating on and off when you think you need it, and will help you resist the temptation to put it on if you know it will be kicking in soon. It also eliminates the risk of forgetting to turn it off when you go out or to bed, and if you get in early you can always start cooking or do some housework to warm yourself up while the heating’s getting going.
• Double glazed windows will help insulate your house. However, if you have some windows that you can’t or don’t want to get double glazed, you can insulate them temporarily with bubble wrap, if they’re in infrequently used rooms or you don’t mind not being able to see out of them!
• If you find you have to dry washing indoors, time your washing cycle to end while the heating’s on. This way when you hang the washing up to dry, the air around it will be warmer and the drying process will progress faster, preventing the mustiness that occurs in washing if it doesn’t dry quickly enough. Don’t put your washing directly on the radiators though, because this will make the boiler have to work harder to heat the house. And don’t dry your washing anywhere that is prone to damp, as it will increase the humidity of the air around it, which could encourage mould to grow.
• If you have clothes that need ironing, do this while they’re still slightly damp. This saves you having to spray them for ironing and cuts out some of drying time too.
• Leave the oven door open slightly when you’ve finished cooking with it, so that the heat can help keep the kitchen warm.
• Remember to turn off radiators in rooms you don’t use much, and check them when the heating first goes on to make sure they don’t need bleeding. If they do, they will be getting warm at the base but not at the top. To bleed a radiator, you need a radiator key (which can be bought cheaply from any hardware shop) which you turn in the bleed valve at the top of the radiator, when the central heating is off, until you can hear air being released. As soon as water comes out, close the valve again. Make sure you’ve got something to catch the water with, such as a towel, as it will be dirty. Depending on your central heating system, you might need to reduce its pressure first and then repressurise it afterwards. Your power or boiler cover supplier might have detailed instructions on their website (e.g. [3, 4]).

[1] http://www.dothegreenthing.com/wiki/display/WIKI/Turn+down+thermostats+on+room+heating

[2] http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/In-your-home/Roofs-floors-walls-and-windows/Draught-proofing

[3] http://www.homeserve.com/help-advice/boiler-heating/how-to-bleed-a-radiator.aspx

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