Energy bills: Refusing to turn the heating on is putting people at risk

Where do you stand on the great central heating debate? By that I mean the question of whether you have or haven’t turned on your heating yet.

In our home, we held off until the end of November — the longest I can remember. 

That was partly due to rising gas and electricity costs, but also because it was still fairly warm in October and throughout most of November.

This month, though, it has been freezing — yet some people have steadfastly refused to turn on the heating. When I visited an aunt last weekend, I had to be rude and keep my coat on.

She’s in her 60s and lives by herself — and seems to be on a one-woman crusade to prove she’s made of seriously steely stuff.

With costs soaring and energy supplies sparse (we can thank Vladimir Putin for that), I get why she’s nervous about splurging on heating. But when I looked at her thermostat it was 14 degrees! 

It was far too cold for my toddler Brooke, who did what toddlers do best and had a tantrum. With a little forewarning, I’d probably have stuck her in longjohns, gloves, a scarf, hat and vest.

In the end, I was so desperate I offered to pay my aunt’s heating bill if she relented. It was only when I pointed out Brooke’s hands were ice-cold that she reluctantly agreed.

Now, look, I’m not some spoilt central heating prima donna. We hate waste of all kinds in my house. But I can’t find anything under 18 degrees comfortable.

Yet after speaking to family, friends and colleagues, it appears there are heating refuseniks everywhere. 

One colleague at the Mail told me her brother’s home dipped to 12 degrees in the cold snap — and he still refused to turn on the heating. He’s in a well-paid job but apparently treats it as a badge of honour to live uncomfortably.

My real concern isn’t people like him, though. It’s pensioners shivering in their homes unnecessarily. Some of them will get dangerously cold and fall ill, or worse.

Thankfully, it has warmed up again ahead of Christmas. But I still fear there may have been a massive overreaction around the country to talk of astonishingly high bills this year. 

You see, many of those braving the cold in their own living rooms probably can afford to stick on the heating intermittently. They just haven’t done the sums.

>> How do I work out what my central heating costs per hour? 

My aunt, for example, lives in a small one-bed house. Her annual energy bill is unlikely to come anywhere close to the £2,500 typical annual usage we’ve been warned about (that’s the figure for the average home, not all homes).

That means her budget probably can stretch to using a blast or two of heating as and when she needs it to keep off the chill.

The key is working out the costs for yourself, rather than blindly reacting to warnings on the news.

Let me know where you stand on the heating debate. And if you are a guest without control of the thermostat this Christmas, do pack an extra jumper just in case!

Get YOUR vote in: Our annual Wooden Spoon Awards is the prize for dreadful service that no boss wants to win

Wooden spoon

Wooden spoons aren’t just for mixing turkey stuffing (or using as a makeshift microphone to belt out Christmas classics).

They also have a very important job serving as a booby prize for the boss of the firm guilty of Britain’s worst customer service.

There is still time to vote in Money Mail’s Wooden Spoon Awards 2022 and have your say on the eight financial firms in the running to take our unwanted prize. 

Vote online at thisismoney.co.uk/spoon. We’ll be handing the winning chief executive our one-of-a-kind wooden spoon trophy in the new year.

Christmas cheer

Lastly, a very Merry Christmas from all the team here at Money Mail.

It has been a testing year for many, with soaring bills and customer service seemingly in the gutter. But at least we can celebrate with loved ones without fears of pandemic tiers or a mutant virus variant.

Thank you for the thousands of letters, emails and calls you send us every week, revealing rip-offs, scams and firms behaving badly. Keep them coming!

l.boyce@dailymail.co.uk