Top tips to reduce your heating bills

Energy used for heating and hot water accounts for more than half of a household's yearly energy bills, and prices are currently high, but there are improvements you can make to your home heating system to make it more efficient and save money. 

Reducing your energy use is a win-win: not only will it save you money on your bill, but it will help reduce your carbon footprint at the same time.

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1. Make sure your boiler is running efficiently

Ensure you understand everything your boiler offers. Familiarise yourself with the manual, which you should be able to find online if you've lost it. 

Your boiler's settings play a key role in the performance and efficiency of your heating system, but many homeowners aren't sure what to do with them.  

Use your boiler timer or programmer

A timer allows you to schedule when your boiler turns on and off over a 24-hour period. A programmer gives you even more options, allowing you to set different times and temperatures throughout the week.

This helps you save money as you won't be heating your home at a time that you don't need it. 

Check that the clock on the programmer is correct before you set your programmes. 

Find out more about boiler controls and how they can save you money.

2. Get your boiler serviced annually

Worryingly, only 20% of boiler owners get an annual service, according to government figures. 

Ask your boiler engineer to confirm it's set up to maximise efficiency. Our guide to getting the best boiler service goes into more detail about this. 

Getting an annual boiler service will also reduce your chances of breakdowns that might incur a hefty repair bill.

Consider installing the Benchmark app for an easy way to access records of your boiler's service history and alerts when it's time to get your boiler serviced.

Don't scrap a functioning boiler to save money on your energy bills 

A note of caution: don't think you need to scrap a boiler that still works well. 

While it's true that very old boilers can cost more to run than new ones:

• Boiler Plus regulations (which stipulate that boilers must run at 92% efficiency) came into force some time ago: in 2018. So this may already apply to your boiler, depending when you bought it. 
• You'll face high up front costs that you simply don't need to spend
• It's likely that in the next ten years or so the market for low carbon heating systems will expand, so if you keep your existing boiler going, you might find that when you do come to replace it you're ready for a whole new system.

How to buy the best boiler – if you do need a new boiler now, read our expert advice on choosing the right one for your home.

3. Clean your radiator system

Keeping your system water (the water that circulates in your pipes and radiators) clean and free of sludge will make your heating system more efficient.

It’s also good for the ongoing life of your boiler and central heating. 

A clear sign that your system may be overly sludgy is if you have cold spots at the bottom of your radiators, or if some of your radiators take an age to heat up compared to others.

If you're getting a new boiler, a clean system is also essential to validate the manufacturer's warranty on your new boiler.

A heating engineer can flush out your radiators and pipes separately to a new boiler installation, and this can be a useful bit of maintenance to carry out. You can discuss it with your heating engineer at an annual boiler service.

Does your radiator system need a power flush?

Here are the different ways your system can be cleaned:

• Gravity flush: draining the water in your radiator system and replacing it with new clean water
• Power flush: A power flush will be more effective at removing sludge from your system, but it does require specialist equipment and can be expensive. 
• Chemical flush: A chemical flush is a lighter clean with a chemical that will help to more gently ease the muck out of the radiator. A chemical flush doesn't require high-pressure equipment, so should be a bit cheaper than the full power flush treatment.

After any of these processes, a chemical inhibitor should be added to the system water to prevent further sludge build up.

If you ever add system water to top up the pressure of your boiler system, more inhibitor will need to be added to keep the concentration at the correct level.

Products like magnetic filters can also be very effective at keeping your system water in a good state. They capture materials within a sealed system, which predominantly come from the radiators, and keep your system water clean.

Some boiler manufacturers, like Worcester Bosch, offer a longer warranty on some of their boiler ranges if installed with a filter.

In areas with particularly hard water, a water softening filter is a sensible precaution to prevent limescale build up on critical boiler parts – such as the hot water heat exchanger. 

Signs you need a new boiler – find out if you need an upgrade or just a repair.

4. Check your radiators are balanced

Balancing a heating system means optimising the distribution of water through the radiators. This increases its operating efficiency and comfort and reduces your energy usage.

To give out the correct heat output, each radiator needs a certain flow of water. If this is unbalanced, some radiators can take most of the hot water flow from the boiler, leaving other radiators with not enough. That in turn impacts the efficiency of your boiler and how comfortable your home feels, as some rooms will overheat and others will stay cold. 

In addition, thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) with too much flow might not work properly and you might hear loud sounds of water streaming as they start to close when the room temperature increases. 

If your radiators are removed for decorating and then refitted, you should watch out for potential unbalancing afterwards.

If you are having a new boiler installed, your system will need to be re-balanced. After the installation, ask your heating engineer for proof that your system has been balanced before paying for the installation.

Again, you can ask about radiator balancing at an annual boiler service.

Check your radiators and find out what to ask your heating engineer in our guide on how to balance your radiators.

5. Turn down the flow temperature of your combi boiler

You probably only need to have your boiler on its highest settings in the very depths of winter, if at all. If it's getting very hot all year round, you could be needlessly heating water to a very high temperature and wasting energy.  

It could also mean that your condensing boiler doesn't condense, as the water needs to be cool enough on its return for condensation to form. The easiest way to make sure your boiler is condensing is to not set the flow temperature of the boiler too high. The flow temperature is the temperature of the water that is sent to your radiators.

A flow temperature of 60-65°C will let your boiler run more efficiently while ensuring that it condenses.

The Energy Savings Trust says that turning down the flow temperature can improve your boiler efficiency by around 4% to 5%, but that this depends on factors such as what your boiler was previously set to. Nesta research conducted in 2022 found that turning a combi boiler's flow temperature from 80°C to 60°C could reduce your gas bill by around 9%.

Best and worst energy providers – see how yours scored in our customer survey and behind-the-scenes assessment

6. Get the most from your room thermostat

The hotter you have your home, the more money you'll spend heating it. The Energy Saving Trust estimates that turning down your main thermostat by just one degree could save about 10% on your energy bill. 

That said, make sure your home is warm enough in cold weather to ensure you're not jeopardizing your health. 18-21°C  is the ideal temperature range. 

Thermostat temperature tips

• Set the room thermostat to 18°C and then turn it up by one degree each day until you find a temperature you're comfortable with. Note that the ideal temperature for you might be higher if you're vulnerable or you have impaired mobility, so can't move about to help keep yourself warm
• Room thermostats need a free flow of air to sense the temperature accurately – they must not be covered by curtains or blocked by furniture. Nearby electric fires, televisions or lamps could also stop them from working properly
• Your room thermostat will turn your boiler off when the room it's in reaches the set temperature. If you can move it, try different locations around the house - placing it in the room you keep the warmest will mean it turns off more quickly.
• Make sure any thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) near the thermostat are fully open, to avoid them conflicting with the thermostat settings. 
• Zone your home: use TRVs or smart radiator valves to lower temperatures for parts of your home you use infrequently – such as a spare bedroom – or at certain times of day.

Best smart thermostats – discover the models that came out top in our lab tests.

7. Set your thermostatic radiator valves low

As with your room thermostat, you should set the thermostatic radiator valves (TRV) in each room at a low level, then gradually turn them up until the room's left at a comfortable temperature.

Turning a TRV to a higher setting will not make the room heat up any faster – that depends on the boiler size and setting, and the radiator size. All it will do is keep heating the room until it’s at the temperature designated by the TRV.

Ensure each radiator in your home is able to circulate heat properly. For example, make sure they're not blocked by furniture or covered by curtains.

8. Insulate your home

In winter, heat will flow out from all heated living spaces to unheated attics, garages, basements, and to the outdoors. Heat can also be lost through interior ceilings, walls, and floors – wherever there is a difference in temperature, because heat moves from warmer to colder areas. 

To keep your home comfortable, the heat lost in the winter must be replaced by your heating system. So you pay more to heat our homes, and burn more fossil fuels in the process, because so much heat is being lost. 

Insulating your home will decrease this heat flow by resisting this flow of heat. Not only will this lower your energy bills and cut your carbon emissions, it could also help you get a higher EPC for your home, making it more attractive to future buyers should you want to sell. A 2023 study by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) found that 80% of dwellings built before 1930 in England and in Wales had an EPC rating of D to G. 

You may be able to get financial support for insulation via the government's Great British Insulation scheme.

Before you begin, find out how energy efficient your home is, understand how to insulate your home and make sure you're clued up on the problems associated with spray foam insulation.

9. Try our free home energy planning service

Our personalised home energy planning service can help you figure out where to get started with your home's energy updates, how much it might cost for you and whether you're eligible for any funding. 

Try out our free home energy planning service.