‘I live under rugs’: people try to keep central heating off as UK bills soar

Following the energy price cap rise on 1 October, many consumers are holding off putting the central heating on in an attempt to cut back on costs.

Five people in the UK discuss how rising bills are affecting them and the measures they are taking to try to keep warm.

‘I can cope until the temperature gets to 13C indoors’

It would not be unusual for Jo Love to have the heating on by now. The 64-year-old cleaner lives in a 200-year-old cottage in Pembrokeshire that gets damp easily, but this year she plans to hold out until the end of November. “I can cope without heating until the ambient temperature gets to 13C [55.4F],” she says. “There’s always moistness here and so when the house is not warm it gets damp.”

As a cleaner of holiday lets, Love’s work is highly seasonal; her income dramatically decreases over winter. To withstand the cold in her home she is wearing a dressing gown, puffer jacket and hat indoors. “I’m going to try my absolute damnedest to not have it on,” she says, adding that she is “taking it day by day”. “What I’m trying to do is use as little energy now so when it’s unbearable in January I can actually splash out – I will hopefully be able to build up credit. I’ve decided to only watch one hour of TV in the evening and go to bed at 8.30pm. I’ve never done anything like this before – it’s insane.”

‘It’s beginning to get quite cold in the evenings here’

Carol Ann Crawford, a 67-year-old dialect coach in Edinburgh, finds herself constantly watching the smart meter when she turns on an appliance. “Some behaviour is probably sensible, like only filling the kettle with enough water for one cup,” she says. “The TV uses up quite a lot which I hadn’t appreciated before.”

While Crawford would usually have the heating on by mid-September, this year she is planning to keep it off for as long as possible. “It really depends on the temperature – it’s beginning to get quite cold in the evenings, I may have to have it on in a couple of weeks’ time. I’m frightened by the prospect of huge bills, although my account was £200 in credit last time I looked,” she says. “I am aware of the danger of frozen pipes as it gets colder. I’m still working and I earn reasonably good money – but because everyone’s so scared of the cost of fuel I think I’ve got affected and find myself thinking about how I can economise. I was intending to retire soon but I’ve been rethinking that.”

‘Even if I can afford it, cutting back a bit helps everyone’

Richard Benson is aiming to get to December before he switches on the heating – unless there’s a real cold snap before then. The 40-year-old company director in London says he is fortunate that the decision is “not a financial thing”. “I just don’t see that it’s the right thing to do – if everyone uses less, there will be less demand, prices won’t be so high. Even if I can afford it, cutting back a bit helps everyone. I see it as the ultimate selfishness to not try to help a little bit,” he says.

Benson’s two young children – a two-year-old and a three-month-old baby – are wrapped up in extra layers. “The baby has two babygrows, and if someone is not carrying him he has a blanket on top,” he says.

Benson, 40, wears four layers – vest, T-shirt, jumper and overshirt – at home. He explains that if his children catch a cough or the flu, his heating plan will go out of the window: “I can’t let my children stay unwell because I refuse to turn the heating on.”

‘I reluctantly decided to get a wood burner’

David Coulthard, 58, from North Yorkshire, says he has reluctantly resorted to using a wood burner to heat his home and has already bought £200 worth of wood to burn. “It should last three months,” he says, costing less than his heating bill for January 2022 alone.

“Our electric bills in the past 12 months averaged about £140 a month but in the winter months they were approaching £250 and it just didn’t seem right,” he says. “So I decided to get a wood burner to heat the house more efficiently. I don’t like using too much wood as it releases stored carbon into the atmosphere and particulates that contribute to air pollution but this year I don’t see much of an option.”

He says he expects to have to put the heating on at some point in the coming months but is trying to hold out until the end of November.

‘The cold exacerbates my disability’

After her estimated bill “left her in shock”, Ilona Hughes is delaying putting the central heating on in her one-bed flat in London, despite the effect on her health. The 52-year-old is disabled and suffers in the cold and damp. “I’ll have swelling in the knees, the pain goes up, the mobility goes down.

“I live under rugs anyway – although I’m 52, I act as if I’m a 99-year-old,” she says. “My flat can get quite damp because it’s a Victorian conversion, we’ve got solid brick walls and you get a lot of condensation in the morning on the windows and it feels damp. The damp goes straight into my knees like arrows.” She is relying on an electric convection heater to maintain the temperature in her bedroom – the smallest room – at 18C during the day.

Hughes plans to keep the central heating off for as long as she can and is looking for different ways to stay warm. “I have put a curtain over the bedroom and sitting room doors to keep heat in if I am using them. I really don’t know how I will cope this winter – whether to use the central heating to protect my health and build up debt, or live in a state of misery.”