Here are my tips for reducing gas bills beyond the usual you see and hear on TV, radio and energy focussed web sites beyond just switch suppliers, insulating your cavity walls and turning down your hall controller by one degree. Being slightly cynical, you will save money the first time you switch and use a direct debit monthly account, but after that most gas suppliers are pretty much aligned in their charges.
I had a habit of just extending the time the heating was on when it was very cold, which led to some very large usage numbers of greater than 150kW/hours a day before I changed my habits.
Heating hot water
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Turn your hot water thermostat down to 60 degrees Celsius.
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Only heat your water once a day in the morning (if you can get away with it).
Gas central heating
Measure your gas usage each day or week to gain an understanding of your usage.
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Do NOT have gas turned on all day unless you have to and can really afford it. It is much cheaper to have it on once in the morning and once in the evening - say 07:00 to 09:30 and 18:00 to 21:00.
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Turn heating off as early as you can in the spring and as late as you can in the autumn.
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During the autumn and spring, try to have the heating on just once a day in the morning until it gets too chilly.
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Turn your central heating off at night.
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If you are chilly try to resist extending heating periods if you can avoid it - the more hours central heating is turned on, the more gas you will use. This could easily double your gas usage each day.
- Do not heat unused rooms as this is throwing money down the drain.
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Find alternative ways of heating a room that you are in - we use a fire using free logs to heat the living room in the evening.
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Make sure you have TRVs on all your radiators and turn them down if you can - certainly turn off radiators in unused rooms.
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Try using eTRVs to better control room temperatures and match heating to your own lifestyle.
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Consider upgrading your boiler to a more efficient model.