There’s something about the clocks going back that makes me want to hunker down at home. The blankets come out, I drink far too much tea and, in most houses I know, the great heating debate starts up again. Do we put it on yet, or hold out another week with an extra jumper?
For many British residents, it may feel like a bigger question than usual this year. The energy price cap went up to £1,723 a year for a typical home on 1st October, and analysts expect a much bigger jump in January. The Autumn Budget brought a little help, but it doesn’t change the price we pay for each unit of gas or electricity.
I’ve been going through the numbers with the team at Pro Breeze (they manufacture heaters, humidifiers and air purifiers), and it’s less of an on-or-off decision than you might assume.
According to them, a few small changes go a surprisingly long way.
What Does the Autumn Budget Mean for Our Heating Bills?
Budget announcements can be a bit overwhelming, so here’s the short version.
For families, the main news is a one-off £100 Household Energy Payment for homes in England in council tax bands A to D, paid through your council from January 2027. VAT on household electricity was removed on 1 October and will now stay at 0% until the end of June 2027. The government reckons that takes about £50 off the annual price cap. Not life-changing, but I’ll take it!
Longer term, the Chancellor has asked Ofgem to scrap the daily gas standing charge (about 30p a day at the moment) in 2027, or as soon as possible after. That cost will probably be added to the unit rate instead, so if you use very little gas you could save, but bigger users might pay more. There’s also one-off help planned from spring 2027 for households still paying off energy debt from the 2022 to 2024 crisis.
The catch is that the price cap is still expected to go up. MoneySavingExpert’s average of supplier forecasts puts it at around £2,188 a year from January, about 27% higher than now. Ofgem confirms the real figure on 25 November.
If you use plug-in heaters, the VAT cut does make electricity a little cheaper this winter, while gas still has 5% VAT on it. Gas is still much cheaper per unit, though, so how much of the house you heat makes far more difference.
Is It Actually Cheaper to Put the Heating On?
This bit may surprise you. Per unit of heat, gas central heating is roughly three times cheaper than a plug-in electric heater. On the surface, it may seem as though that solves the issue…but we don’t often need the whole house warm, and that changes the sums quite a lot.
Under the current cap, gas costs 7.97p per kWh and electricity 26.32p per kWh (the average for Direct Debit across the country). A modern condensing boiler turns roughly 90% of its gas into heat, so each kWh of warmth costs about 9p. An electric heater turns all of its electricity into heat, but that kWh of warmth still costs around 26p.
What It Costs to Run a Heater
Maths may not be your strong suit, but working out rough heating costs is surprisingly easy. Divide the heater’s wattage by 1,000 and multiply by your unit rate.
At today’s rates, a heated throw or electric blanket (around 100W) costs about 2.6p an hour, so 11p for a four-hour evening. A heater on a low 500W setting is about 13p an hour, a 1,000W heater about 26p and a 1,500W heater about 39p. Running a 2,000W heater flat out costs about 53p an hour, or £2.11 over an evening, and a 2,500W oil-filled radiator about 66p an hour.
That’s assuming it’s on full power the whole time. Heaters with a thermostat switch off once the room is warm, so you’ll usually pay less. If the price cap goes up as forecast in January, add roughly a quarter to those figures.
So Which Is Cheaper for Your Home?
It comes down to how much of the house needs to be warm. If it’s one or two of you in the same room for a few hours, a small electric heater can cost less than putting every radiator on. A rough rule: it’s worth it when that room needs less than a third of the heat the whole house would.
In a busy house, or on days when everyone’s home and it’s freezing out, gas central heating on a timer usually works out cheaper, especially with the radiators turned down in rooms nobody’s using. In an all-electric home, heating only the rooms you’re in, and only while you’re in them, saves the most.
Your own costs will depend on your tariff and your home, so treat these as a rough guide.
Why Switching the Heating Off Completely Can Backfire
It’s tempting to leave the heating off and just pile on the layers, but going without can cost you in other ways.
The big one is health. The UK Health Security Agency advises heating the rooms you use most, like the living room and bedrooms, to at least 18°C. Cold homes raise the risk of heart attacks, strokes and chest infections, especially for older people, young children and anyone with a heart or lung condition. With children in the house, that one is hard to ignore.
Then there’s damp and mould, the bane of so many British homes. Cold walls pick up condensation from cooking, bath time and washing drying indoors, and if it’s left, that can turn into black mould. It ruins paintwork and belongings, it can make asthma and allergies worse, and sorting it out later costs a lot more than a few hours of heating.
In a cold snap, an unheated house can end up with frozen or burst pipes, which is why lots of people leave the heating on a low frost setting even when they’re away. And once the walls and furniture have gone properly cold, it takes far more energy to warm a room back up, so you end up blasting the heating anyway.
So it’s worth thinking about which rooms you heat, how warm you keep them and for how long.
Simple Ways to Stay Cosy for Less This Winter
Most of these cost little or nothing, and they work whether your heating runs on gas or electricity.
Turn the Thermostat Down by One Degree
Most of us won’t notice the difference between 21°C and 20°C, and the Energy Saving Trust puts the savings for a typical home at around £90 a year. Just don’t go below 18°C in the rooms you use.
Only Heat the Rooms You’re Using
Turn the radiator valves down in spare rooms and the hallway, and keep internal doors shut so the warmth stays where everyone is.
Use Timers Rather Than the On/Off Switch
Set the heating to come on just before you wake up and just before you get home, rather than leaving it on all day or cranking it up once the house is already freezing. It’s also worth checking your boiler. Lots of combi boilers are set hotter than they need to be, and turning the flow temperature down to around 60°C can help a condensing boiler run more efficiently without the house feeling any colder.
Keep the Draughts Out
Draught excluders and a letterbox brush cost very little, and closing the curtains at dusk keeps a surprising amount of heat in. Plus there’s something lovely about shutting the curtains on a dark winter evening.
Grab a Heated Throw
If you’re curled up on the sofa with a book or a film, a heated throw or electric blanket costs a few pence an hour, which is far less than heating the whole room.
Use a Portable Heater for One Room
If you’re working from home or spending the evening in one room, a portable heater with a thermostat and timer lets you leave the central heating off everywhere else. Go for the right size for the room. A lower wattage heater on a thermostat in a small room will usually do better than a big one on full blast. Pro Breeze has a range of portable heaters if you’re looking for one.
Dry Your Laundry Without the Damp
With a family, the washing basket is never empty for long. Drying clothes on the radiators puts moisture into the air and makes the radiators work harder, whereas a dehumidifier dries the washing and deals with condensation at the same time.
Check What Help You’re Entitled To
If you’re in England and your home is in council tax bands A to D, look out for the £100 Household Energy Payment. It’s also worth checking whether you qualify for the Warm Home Discount. And if you’re struggling to pay, talk to your supplier sooner rather than later. They have to help.
Embracing a Cosy (and Cheaper) Winter
Let’s loop back to the important question of this article; should you put the heating on this winter? Yes, but on your own terms. Leaving it off completely isn’t good for your health or your home, and it can mean a bigger bill later, while heating every room all day is just expensive.
Keep the rooms you’re using at 18°C or above and let the timer do the work. On the evenings when it’s just you on the sofa, a heater or a heated throw will usually do the job for less.
Realistically, if that means a snug blanket, a good book and a hot cup of tea in one warm room, that sounds like the ultimate cosy winter evening!
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