Households that heat their homes with log burners are tackling the high cost of living by buying less fuel and making it stretch further, according to Europe’s largest solid fuel firm Homefire.
Most UK homes use electricity or gas for their heating and other energy needs, with the average home paying an energy bill of £1,834 a year, rising to £1,928 from 1 January 2024.
But more than a million households rely on burning firewood or smokeless fuel – a greener coal alternative – to heat their homes.
This is particularly the case with rural homes, those with poor insulation, boat dwellers and off-grid homes.
Make it last: Many households are putting less fuel on their fires to save money this year
Many do this with log stoves or open fires, and less commonly with solid fuel powered boilers.
But the average solid fuel customer is ordering less than usual this year and trying to eke supplies out further, according to Jason Sutton, chief executive of Homefire, which sells firewood, smokeless fuel, BBQ charcoal and other items.
Speaking to This is Money, Sutton said: ‘There has been an increase in [log stove] installations, but people are using the products more sparingly, the average volume per customer has reduced. People are using less fuel.’
Sutton added that Homefire’s average volume per order has fallen this year, and noted a trend for customers to buy smaller amounts of fuel more frequently.
This could be to help with budgeting, as many consumers have already adopted a similar tactic with their food shopping, according to retail analysts Kantar.
The latest Government figures – from 2015 – show that 7.5 per cent of the UK population burns solid fuel to help keep warm, with 2.3 per cent using it as their sole heating source.
There are around 26.4 million homes in the UK, meaning roughly 1.3 million burn solid fuel for heating, with 607,200 properties using it exclusively.
Sutton added: ‘Fuel poverty is impacting on many more people as the cost of mortgages and so on has now gone through the roof.’
Clean fuel organisation Hetas said last winter that burning seasoned logs is the cheapest way of heating a home after kerosene, costing 10.37p per kWh on average, versus 12.81p per kW for mains gas and 39.21p per kW for electricity.
The downside is that central heating can warm every room in a house, whereas a log stove or open fire heats just one or two.
However, for many households that is enough – or all they can afford.
Many homes rely on so-called ‘zonal heating,’ where occupants stay warm in winter by heating some rooms more than others with log stoves, typically their living rooms, then turn central heating off or down in others.
#fiveDealsWidget * {box-sizing:border-box;} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle#mobile {display:none} #fiveDealsWidget {display:flex; flex-direction: column; margin:0; padding:0; line-height:120%; font-size:12px; width: 100%;} #fiveDealsWidget div, #fiveDealsWidget a {margin:0; padding:0; line-height:120%; text-decoration: none; font-family:Arial, Helvetica ,sans-serif} #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitleBox {display:block; width:100%; background-color:#B11B16; } #fiveDealsWidget .deals { display: flex;width:100%;} #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitle {color:#fff; text-transform: uppercase; font-size:18px; font-weight:bold; margin:6px 10px 4px 10px; } #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {flex:0 1 auto; margin-right:4px; margin-top:5px; background-color: #e3e3e3;} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {margin-right:0} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {display:block; margin:10px 0 10px 5px; color:#000; font-weight:bold} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage img {width: 100%;display:block; margin:0; padding:0} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {border:1px solid #ccc; background-color: #ffffff;} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage img {width:100%; height: 100px; object-fit: contain;padding:5px;} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemdesc { display:block; color:#e22953; font-weight:bold; margin:5px;} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemRate { display:block; color:#000; margin:5px} #fiveDealsWidget .dealFooter {display:block; width:100%; margin-top:5px; background-color:#e3e3e3 } #fiveDealsWidget .footerText {font-size:10px; margin:10px 10px 10px 10px;} @media (max-width: 635px) { /* #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {width:19%; margin-right:1%} */ /* #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {width:20%} */ #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {font-size:0.85em} } @media (max-width: 560px) { #fiveDealsWidget #desktop {display:none} #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitleBox {background-color:#e3e3e3; } #fiveDealsWidget .widgetTitle {color:#000} #fiveDealsWidget #mobile {display:block!important} #fiveDealsWidget .deals { flex-direction: column;} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {width: 100%; display: flex;align-items: center;} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem {border-bottom:1px solid #ececec; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:10px; background: #ffffff;} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {border-bottom:0px solid #ececec; margin-bottom:5px; padding-bottom:0px} #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem, #fiveDealsWidget a.dealItem#last {width:100%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {display:block} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemImage {width:35%; margin-right:1%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent {width:63%} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemTitle {margin: 0px 5px 5px; font-size:16px} #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent .dealItemdesc, #fiveDealsWidget .dealItemContent .dealItemRate {clear:both} }
