My Gas bill for December and so far this month is incredibly high

[Guest]

This might sound a daft question but how do I know if my thermostat is broken.. My Gas bill for December and so far this month is incredibly high, my thermostat is set at 17 degrees and my central heating always seems to be on but the number doesn’t change, I’m not clued up on central heating and thermostats and this is the first one I’ve ever had, Is this what it’s supposed to do?

[Lisa]

My thermostat is set at 12 or 13, I used to have it set at 15 but even reducing it slightly has saved money, I turn it off at night also because we have teddy bedding that’s very warm., again, saves on gas.

[Helen]

Not sure but 16° is Aircon temperature so are you not cold? 18 to 20° is warm.

[Yoojung]

Our gas bill is over double what it normally is. Everyone is experiencing the same in my area too.

[Katie]

Depends where thermostat is and how many radiators u have, mines by the front door, clicks on at 11-12 had it on 15 this morning it stayed on for 3 hours then I turned thermostat down it clicked off at 12. Upstairs was roasting downstairs barely aired. Totally unbalanced house with 1 big 1 tiny radiator downstairs and 4 decent sized rads upstairs, we use an extra electric heater downstairs when it's this cold.

[Susan]

Just turn the heating on manually. When warm enough switch it off.

[Tina]

It might cost effective to get it checked! Boiler should be on 60 thermostat if u have kids 18. If not whatever you can deal with under that. We have it on 10 turning it to 12 if it doesn't turn on and we are cold.

[Trevor]

It depends on where your thermostat is located, if it’s in a place near draughts it will always be on as it monitors the temperature around it.

[Alex]

It's been very cold recently so to keep to up to 17 degrees will be costly. £160 over 16 days is £10 a day. My heating costs around £1.50 an hour to run so ifs it on for around 6hours 30 minutes a day over the 24hour period then it would be about right to be around £10 a day. Mines been on for 3 hours today just to warm up to 13.5 degrees from over night and not to go below 13 degrees through the day so imagine how much more energy your using to keep it to 17 degrees at all times. Obviously this is not taking into account cost of cooking with gas or heating hot water if you have them as gas.

[Linda]

Check the temperature on your boiler for heating is set to 60 only as this will save money. There’s a link showing you how to do this on the Martin Lewis website. Also keeping on 17 permanently will be expensive. Especially when temp is low outside. I warm the house to 18 for my morning shower. Wear my Oodie during the day at home then heat to 18 again early evening.

[Pat]

My thermostat is set at 19 I leave it in the kitchen all day but put it on the window ledge in the lounge of an evening to keep it warm. My thermostat would not come on during the day if set lower than 15.