I am about to move into a one bed flat with my partner in a couple of weeks. It seems like a fairly well-insulated flat but I feel the cold easily.
I swear by my hot water bottle but this doesn’t cut it when it gets really cold. I’m not sure how much our energy bills are going to be but I want to try and keep them as low as possible.
My partner works from home most days but he doesn’t ever feel the cold, so we’d only really need to heat the flat when I get home.
I’ve read that electric heaters can be a cost effective way to heat a room and given that we’ll only really need it on when I’m home, it might be a good alternative to heating.
I’m also thinking of buying an electric blanket and I’m wondering if this might be a better option for me. It will save my partner moaning about being hot.
Blankets are a little more expensive than heaters – does this mean they’ll use more electricity? I’m not sure which is the best option or to suck it up and turn on the heating.
My partner never feels the cold – should I buy an electric blanket to stay warm this winter?
Angharad Carrick of This Is Money replies: The energy market has calmed down in recent weeks, with the Ofgem price cap falling to £1,843 a year for the typical home from the start of October.
However, the weather is starting to turn, which means you could be facing higher bills.
In fact, our analysis of numbers provided by comparison website Uswitch shows that a household with low usage – usually a flat or one-bedroom house – will pay more this winter.
> Why some households face paying more for their energy this winter
This year, these properties are set to pay £300.02, an increase of £80.71, or £26.90 more per month, since last year.
With this in mind, you’re right to think about your energy usage in the colder months. If your flat is well-insulated then this will help to keep bills down, but you can also take other precautions.
Given your partner doesn’t feel the cold and you do, you’re right to think about how you might heat yourself up rather than the whole room.
A lot of consumers have taken to electric heaters to heat a room, rather than a whole flat or house.
However, given this wouldn’t solve your problem of your partner overheating and you feeling the cold, an electric blanket is a good option.
There are plenty of blankets on sale, starting from as little as £40, which could be a good investment to lower your bills and save arguments with your partner!
You can work out how much it costs to run an electric heater and blanket, with a quick calculation.
How much do electric blankets cost to run?
Every appliance has a power rating, usually given in watts (W) or kilowatts (kW) and 1,000W equals 1kW.
This rating tells you the amount of electricity a device uses, and how much it will cost you depending on how long it is turned on.
Electricity is sold by kWh, which appears as units in your bill.
You can work out how much an electrical appliance costs to run by multiplying the device’s wattage by the number of hours you use it and then by the cost of electricity.
Electricity is currently capped at an average of 27.35p per kWh under Ofgem’s price cap. This means that a 2kW fan heater would cost you 54.7p an hour to run.
If you’re running this in the evenings for a few hours, it could cost you £1.64 a night.
A Dreamland electric blanket, which costs between £70 and £75 to buy, uses 150W of energy, or 0.15kWH. This means it costs 4.1p for an hour or 12.3p for three hours.
Joanna O’Loan at Energy Saving Trust says: It’s good news if your flat seems fairly well-insulated.
Energy Saving Trust’s Joanna O’Loan says it’s important to have central heating on to avoid damp
Remember, you can also check the property’s Energy Performance Certificate to see how well insulated it is and any improvements it could benefit from. Your estate agent or landlord can provide this, or you could check it online.
Everybody responds to cold temperatures differently, but beyond personal comfort, it’s also important to frequently have some central heating on during colder months to keep your walls warm, as this helps to prevent condensation which can lead to issues like damp and mould.
Opening the windows from time to time to let in fresh, drier air, will also help to prevent these issues.
If your flat has gas central heating, it will generally be cheaper to use this rather than an electric heater, even if you want to just heat one room. This is because gas is almost four times cheaper than electricity per unit.
If you don’t want to heat your whole flat, you can save some money by turning your radiator valves to a lower number in the rooms you’re not using, and higher in the rooms you are. Keep doors closed between heated and unheated spaces.
You can also save money and energy by setting your room thermostat to the lowest comfortable temperature for your partner. That way, the heating will only switch on when the inside temperature falls below that point and will switch off once the rooms are comfortably warm.
If you’re worried about being comfortable without making your partner too warm, using a hot water bottle or electric blanket could be a good idea. Electric blankets are often low-energy and some come with multiple rate settings, helping you control how much heat they’ll produce. Using lower settings will reduce how much they’ll costs to run.
In general, an electric blanket will typically use less power than an electric heater. This is because it’s only designed to heat one person (or a very small space, like your bed), whereas a heater is designed to heat all the air in a room.
If you do need to use an electric heater at all, some heaters have a thermostat and timer which you can set to avoid using more energy than you need.’
Angharad Carrick says: Remember that even if you don’t use your central heating, or keep it to a minimum, you will still have to pay a standing charge.
This is currently capped at an average of 53p per day for electricity and 30p per day for gas.
If you’re worried about how much your energy bills are going to be, you might want to consider a fixed tariff.
Currently, the fixed tariffs won’t offer you a better deal than one limited by the Ofgem price cap, but you will have peace of mind should energy prices rise again.
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