How much do you pay for heating?

Thanks for all the tips. In the US our heating was on all the time at 72 from October till April probably. We could move all over the house and be comfortable. I just can't seem to get used to being cold all the time here. It just makes me want to crawl into bed and do nothing all day. Moving from room to room with my little electric heater is so annoying.

I am thinking maybe the heating doesn't work the same here. In the US you set it at a temperature and when the house drops from that, it heats it back up to that temp. Here I think once it goes significantly below the temperature the heating (boiler) "just turns on" heats the whole house and then cuts out. And this feels very hot to me and over the usual 18/19. I don't know Maybe he's right to turn it on to a boiling 23 once and then let it cool down over the day.

Well, 18-19 is actually around 65F, not 72, so that may be one reason, but the other is that US heating is usually hot blowing air from a vent and here it's radiators, so the air in the US is also dryer. The general air in the UK is damper than most places in the US, which makes it feel colder to begin with, and then you don't have the heating drying out the air to make it more comfortable. I agree with everyone else that you should switch suppliers and take your own meter readings. Tbh, £31 seems way too low to me for a 3 bed place anyway!

I just checked my British Gas account - for 9 months of last year (April to December 2014), I paid £280 in total for both gas and electricity, for a 2-bed terraced house (2 storey) in Lincoln... so that's just over £30 per month on average.

Thanks for all the tips. In the US our heating was on all the time at 72 from October till April probably. We could move all over the house and be comfortable. I just can't seem to get used to being cold all the time here. It just makes me want to crawl into bed and do nothing all day. Moving from room to room with my little electric heater is so annoying.

I was/am the same way, it always felt cold and and damp at DH's apartment and still does at his mother's house and his sister's house, pretty much every house I have been in feels cold and damp!
So to help alleviate that in our own home at least, I finally got a dehumidifier, DH was skeptical, but oh what a difference! We don't have to turn the thermostat up, clothes dry within a day, rather then 3 + days and I feel warm now, not damp and chilled no matter what the thermostat was set on and DH is now a believer in dehumidifiers! 

Agree with Stephanie303--dehumidifier is the key. They don't cost much to buy or to run, but they make a big difference. I run ours maybe once or twice a month, whenever it starts to feel damp. We keep our thermostat at 18, and that keeps us comfortable all the time.

I get cold here too. I'm from Western Colorado, the high desert, and living here with humidity has taken some getting used to. I think I'm just now acclimating to the weather and I've been here just over 14 months now. I think we may need to try out a dehumidifier, I don't know why I didn't think of it before.

We keep the house at 20-21 most of the time, because I get cold even with a sweatshirt on. He turns it up if he decides I look cold. I'm not sure what our bill is, I should pay more attention, but I don't. It's a heckuva lot cheaper in the summer though.

We received a more detailed bill with our actual meter readings. It does cost a lot more to keep the heating on all the time, about £150/month at cost of 3.740p / kWh compared to about £50 if you just turn it on twice a day in winter. But I looked at those comparison sites and you guys are right British Gas is a rip off because others are like 2.345p /kWh which would drop our bill to £100/mo in winter. But husband still thinks it's a "waste".

Is it really a waste to be comfortable and warm all the time? I just find the UK so frustrating. Everything is so expensive. House are so tiny. A little rowhouse would cost us like a million US dollars here, no dryers I spend half my life hanging stuff up, tiny fridges and freezers, no Walmart/Target big stores to buy stuff. It's just a fundamental philosophy of saving/restricting/not wasting. I think I am just too American. I like being comfortable, I like buying in bulk. I like spending my money to live a better quality of life

Anyway thank you all for your help. Hopefully next year will be easier to deal with this.
 

Do you have radiators? Maybe you could try turning off the radiators in rooms that you rarely use, and keep them on all the time only in the living room, or wherever you spend most of your time? That and switching to a cheaper provider would probably help a lot.

We received a more detailed bill with our actual meter readings. It does cost a lot more to keep the heating on all the time, about £150/month at cost of 3.740p / kWh compared to about £50 if you just turn it on twice a day in winter. But I looked at those comparison sites and you guys are right British Gas is a rip off because others are like 2.345p /kWh which would drop our bill to £100/mo in winter. But husband still thinks it's a "waste".

I mentioned my my post above that my bills last year were only about £30 a month for both gas and electricity combined… I guess the reason for that is because my heating is not on at all during the summer months and then in the winter it’s only on for about 2 hours in the morning before work and 3-4 hours in the evening after work (and maybe 8 hours during the day when I have a day off and am in the house).

I have the heating come on about an hour before I get up in the morning so that it's warm when I wake up and it goes off about 10 minutes after I leave the house. Then it comes on about an hour before I get home from work so that the house is warm when I arrive and then it goes off just before I go to bed.

I work 12-hour day shifts and 13-hour night shifts, so I’m out of the house for a good chunk of the time and I don’t see the need to have it on when I’m not in the house as it’s just wasting both the energy and my money, then I don’t have it on at night because I get too hot and it gives me headaches (I also turn down the radiator in my bedroom so it doesn't get too hot and stuffy in the morning) - instead I just have a thick duvet, a blanket and a hot water bottle to keep me warm .

then I don’t have it on at night because I get too hot and it gives me headaches (I also turn down the radiator in my bedroom so it doesn't get too hot and stuffy in the morning) - instead I just have a thick duvet, a blanket and a hot water bottle to keep me warm .

Look I know of some weather apps you can check and see how hot or cold the night might be....

Look I know of some weather apps you can check and see how hot or cold the night might be....

Lol - I think I'm covered on that front, thanks .

We will be back and staying with my wife's parents starting on April 16.......we are going to FREEZE to death. They are tighter than (put your own insult here...) with their money. I will have many layers on.....and likely hugging my wife to put off death a little longer. When we buy.....at least the living room will be decently heated (at least 20C). I like my fingers to be able to move.

Lol - I think I'm covered on that front, thanks .

Ooooh, that's a good one! "on that front"...  very groan worthy. 

While we are on this topic, anyone have experience with economy 7 heating? My fiancé and I are moving to a new flat in 3 weeks that's all electric with an economy 7 tariff.  We have a hot water storage tank. It's only 1 bed so not much space to heat, plus we are in Wales so costs are lower anyhow. I'm hoping I'll actually be able to have a warm house now as we've been living in a drafts old terraced house with damp and poor insulation up until now with housemates who don't like to put the heating on.

I've never had experience with Economy 7, but DH swears it has historically been expensive.

Like anything, a lot will depend on your usage, insulation and all the other variables. Will be interesting to see what you can report back after a few months.