With winter fast approaching, it is all too common for the dreaded winter fuel bills to cause panic and confusion amongst the population. With more heating required, and great deal more energy being used by most, winter fuel bills can often seem enormously high.
As such, it is worth looking into the ways you can manage your winter fuel bills in order to protect your finances and avoid unexpected shocks when it comes to having to pay for them. Here are some things to think about.
Be Wise With Heating
The best place to start is with your heating. The cold winter months make it very tempting to have the heating on almost constantly, which will undoubtedly lead to a painful fuel bill. It would be far wiser to put your central heating on a timer, which will turn it on and off at regular intervals.
Even just 15 minutes per hour should be enough to keep the house warm and save you a great deal of money on your bill. If timers aren’t an option, then manually switching it on and off, or wearing warmer clothing, for a period, should also do the trick.
Switch Energy Provider
Many people use one of the major energy providers for all their energy requirements, but smaller providers are gaining ground as they often work out cheaper, with much better customer service. As such, it may be worth exploring which provider may be the cheapest for you.
Also, if fuel bills have given you a bad credit score in the past, then you may want to consider opening a bank account for bad credit, which is specifically designed to help you improve your credit score and could increase your chances of being able to secure a new energy deal.
Insulation
There are no two ways about it, insulation can greatly affect your winter bills, so you should make sure that yours is up to scratch if you truly want to cut down on bills. If you have old, single layer windows, then it might be time to get rid of them in favour of double glazing.
Draft proofing as also another effective method, as is insulating your wall cavities. In conjunction with putting your heaters on a timer, this should significantly reduce the demands on your central heating.
Winter fuel bills need to be an emotional and financial drain, just so long as you plan ahead for them. The above methods could help you to save a serious amount of money, so be sure to give them some consideration.
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