How We Cut Our Energy Bill in a Rented Flat Over Winter

Last November our direct debit jumped to £142 a month, and we were still cold in the evenings. We rent a two bedroom flat on the second floor of a 1970s block, so we cannot fit cavity wall insulation, swap the boiler or replace the single glazed window in the box room, which meant cutting the energy bill in a rented flat had to come from small changes we were allowed to make.

By February the direct debit was down to £104, and the flat felt warmer. None of it was clever. It was £35 of draught proofing, a proper conversation with our landlord, and dropping a couple of habits we had picked up from well meaning advice that did not suit a leaky flat.

Reading the Energy Bill in a Rented Flat First

Before buying anything, we sat down one Sunday with both our last three bills and the smart meter display. Two numbers mattered: the unit rate per kWh for gas and electricity, and the daily standing charge. At the time, electricity was costing us around 25p per kWh and gas around 6p. That gap is why the advice for a gas heated flat is different from one with storage heaters.

We also took meter readings at 10pm and 7am for a week. That showed us roughly 1.2 kWh of electricity used overnight while we slept, mostly from the fridge freezer, a router and a forgotten dehumidifier. Small, but it added up to over £100 a year.

It is the same method we used when we cut our broadband and phone bills: find out exactly what you pay before deciding what to change.

Draught Proofing a Rented Flat Without Upsetting the Landlord

Most tenancy agreements say you cannot make permanent alterations. Draught proofing mostly does not count, as long as it comes off cleanly. Here is what we bought and what it cost:

The film kit was the surprise. It is cling film for windows, stuck on with double sided tape and tightened with a hairdryer. It looks a bit odd up close, but the box room stopped feeling like a fridge, and in April it peeled off without marking the paint.

Behind every radiator on an outside wall, we slid a sheet of reflective foil, £10 for a roll that covered all four. We also moved the sofa about 20cm away from the living room radiator. It had been sitting right against it, soaking up heat that should have been warming the room.

Why We Stopped Leaving the Heating on Low All Day

Every winter someone tells you it is cheaper to leave the heating on low all the time than to heat the flat up from cold. We tried it for two weeks in December, and our gas use went up by about 20 percent compared with the same period the week before.

The reason is simple once you think about it. A building loses heat faster the warmer it is compared with outside. A leaky rented flat kept warm all day is losing heat all day, including the eight hours we were both at work. Heating it in two blocks, 6:30 to 8:30 in the morning and 5:30 to 10:30 at night, meant there were long stretches when no heat was being lost because none was being added.

There are exceptions. If you have a heat pump, or if damp and mould are a real problem, gentle continuous heat can be the right call. For a gas combi boiler in a draughty flat, a timer and a thermostat at 19 degrees served us better than the "always on low" rule.

Small Electricity Habits That Added Up

Electricity costs about four times as much per unit as gas, so the cheapest heat in our flat is the boiler, and the most expensive is anything that plugs in. That changed a few routines:

• The oil filled radiator went in the cupboard. At 1.5kW it was costing roughly 37p an hour. An electric blanket costs about 2p an hour and warms the bed, which is where we actually wanted heat late at night.
• Washing at 30 degrees. Most of our clothes come out just as clean, and heating water is where most of a washing machine's energy goes.
• Batch cooking in the oven. If the oven is on for an hour, we roast two trays of vegetables and bake something for lunches instead of running it twice in a week.
• Kettle discipline. Boiling only the water we need sounds trivial, but we were making tea for two and filling the kettle to the top.

Fitting a cheap plug in timer on the dehumidifier so it runs four hours a day instead of all night saved about £6 a month on its own.

Talking to the Landlord About Bigger Fixes

We had put off asking because we did not want to seem demanding. When we finally emailed, with photos of condensation pouring down the box room window and the black mould starting in its corner, the response was better than expected. The landlord paid for a new extractor fan in the bathroom and agreed to price up secondary glazing for the following year.

Rented homes in England and Wales need an Energy Performance Certificate rated E or above before they can be let, unless there is a registered exemption. Knowing that gave us a reasonable footing for the conversation without sounding confrontational. Ask in writing, keep it friendly and attach photos.

Check whether you qualify for the Warm Home Discount and whether your supplier has a hardship fund, too. We did not qualify, but a friend on Universal Credit got £150 off her bill automatically after checking.

FAQ

Can a tenant switch energy supplier?

Usually yes, if you pay the bills directly. Your tenancy may say you need to tell the landlord, and some landlords ask you to return the account to a named supplier when you leave, but they generally cannot stop you switching.

Is it worth asking for a smart meter in a rented flat?

If you pay the bills, you can ask your supplier for one and only need to let the landlord know. The in home display was what made us notice the overnight electricity use, so we found it worth having.

What temperature should we set the thermostat to?

We settled on 19 degrees when home and awake. Each degree lower cuts heating use by a few percent, but go no lower than 18 if anyone in the home is elderly, unwell or very young.

How much can draught proofing really save?

For us, around £8 to £10 a month in midwinter for about £35 spent, so it paid for itself in four months. Combined with a no spend month and a hunt for subscriptions we had forgotten, it made January far less painful.