A Simple Guide to Staying Warm Without Wasting Electricity
Electric heating can be simple to control.
However, because electricity can be an expensive way to produce direct heat, small changes in how you use your heating can make a noticeable difference to your bills.
The aim is not to make your home cold.
Instead, it is to:
- Heat the rooms you actually use
- Heat them when you need them
- Choose sensible temperatures
- Avoid unnecessary direct or boost heating
- Understand when your electricity costs less
- Reduce the amount of heat your home loses
The best approach depends on your property, heating system and daily routine.
Therefore, there is no single setting that works for every electrically heated home.
Start by Understanding Your Heating System
Before changing anything, identify what type of electric heating you have.
It might include:
- Electric radiators
- Panel heaters
- Convector heaters
- Storage heaters
- Electric underfloor heating
- An electric boiler
- Portable electric heaters
- Infrared heating
You may also have an electrically heated hot-water cylinder.
This matters because different systems need to be used differently.
For example, a direct electric radiator uses electricity while producing heat.
A storage heater, however, can charge during one period and release that heat several hours later.
Therefore, efficient electric heating starts with understanding when your system actually uses electricity.
Learn more in Understanding Electric Heating →
Heat the Person, the Room or the Home?
Before turning the heating on, ask yourself what actually needs to be warm.
Sometimes you need to heat the whole property.
At other times, you may only need one occupied room.
For example, if one person is working from home in a study while the rest of the property is empty, heating every room to the same temperature may use unnecessary energy.
Individual electric heaters can make room-by-room heating relatively easy.
You might heat:
Living room
When it is occupied.
Home office
During working hours.
Bedroom
Around the times you normally use it.
Spare room
Only when required, while maintaining any appropriate minimum conditions for the property.
This is sometimes called zoning.
Instead of heating everything equally, you match the heating more closely to how the home is actually used.
Is It Cheaper to Heat One Room?
Often, heating one occupied room requires less energy than maintaining the same temperature throughout an entire property.
However, it is not quite as simple as saying:
“Always heat only one room.”
Heat moves between spaces.
If neighbouring rooms become very cold, the heated room may lose heat to them more quickly.
Very cold areas can also create other problems in some properties, including increased condensation risk.
Therefore, room-by-room heating should be sensible rather than extreme.
The aim is to avoid unnecessary heating, not deliberately allow the rest of the property to become excessively cold.
Use the Thermostat Properly
A thermostat controls the temperature the heater is trying to maintain.
Once the room reaches the selected temperature, a thermostatically controlled heater can reduce or stop its heat output.
Therefore, the thermostat helps prevent unnecessary energy use.
However, one common mistake is turning the thermostat to maximum because the room feels cold.
Turning It Higher Does Not Usually Heat the Room Faster
Suppose the room is 15°C and you want it to reach 20°C.
Setting the thermostat to 25°C does not normally make a conventional electric heater produce heat faster than setting it to 20°C.
If the heater is already operating at full output, it cannot simply become more powerful because you have increased the thermostat setting.
Instead, the higher setting tells it to continue heating for longer.
As a result, the room may eventually become warmer than you actually wanted.
Choose the temperature you want and allow the heater time to reach it.
What Temperature Should You Use?
There is no perfect room temperature for everyone.
Comfort depends on factors such as:
- Age
- Health
- Clothing
- Activity
- Humidity
- Draughts
- The individual room
- Personal preference
Therefore, Energility should not tell every household to set its thermostat to one particular number.
Instead, find the lowest comfortable temperature that works for the people using the room.
Even a small reduction can reduce heating demand because the difference between indoor and outdoor temperature becomes smaller.
However, energy saving should not come at the expense of health or reasonable comfort.
Match Heating to Your Routine
Heating an empty room for hours usually provides little benefit.
Therefore, look at when rooms are actually used.
For example, you might want the living room warm during the evening but not throughout the night.
Likewise, a home office may only need heating during working hours.
Modern electric heaters often allow you to create individual schedules for each room.
This means you can match heating more closely to your lifestyle.
Instead of:
Heating on all day
you might have:
Bedroom → morning and evening
Office → working hours
Living room → late afternoon and evening
The exact schedule should reflect your household.
Don’t Start Heating Hours Earlier Than Necessary
It takes time for a cold room to warm.
However, this does not mean the heating needs to start several hours before you use it.
Experiment with your own property.
For example, if your living room reaches a comfortable temperature within 30 minutes, starting the heating two hours beforehand may simply maintain warmth in an empty room unnecessarily.
However, another property may take considerably longer.
Therefore, learn how quickly your own rooms respond.
Then adjust the schedule accordingly.
Should You Leave Electric Heating on Low All Day?
You will often hear:
“It’s cheaper to leave the heating on low all day.”
There is no universal rule that makes this true.
A home continually loses heat whenever it is warmer inside than outside.
The larger that temperature difference, the greater the potential rate of heat loss.
Therefore, maintaining an empty home at a higher temperature throughout the day can mean continually replacing heat that escapes from the building.
Allowing the temperature to reduce while heat is not required can reduce that heat loss.
However, the best strategy depends on:
- The heating system
- Building construction
- Insulation
- Occupancy
- Desired temperature
- How quickly the property cools
- Moisture and condensation considerations
Storage heating adds another complication because the heat may have been purchased and stored earlier.
So rather than following a universal slogan, match the heating strategy to the property and heating technology.
Understand kW and kWh
These two terms are easy to confuse.
kW — Kilowatts
This describes power.
It tells you how quickly an appliance can use energy.
For example, a heater rated at 2 kW can consume electricity at a rate of up to 2 kW while operating at full power.
kWh — Kilowatt-Hours
This describes energy used over time.
If a 2 kW heater operates continuously at full power for one hour:
2 kW × 1 hour = 2 kWh
If it operated continuously for three hours:
2 kW × 3 hours = 6 kWh
Your electricity supplier charges you for the kWh you use, alongside any applicable standing charges and other tariff terms.
Calculate What Your Heater Could Cost
You can estimate the cost of running an electric heater using:
Heater power × operating time × electricity unit rate
For example, suppose you have a 2 kW heater and electricity costs 25p per kWh.
If the heater operated continuously at full power for two hours:
2 kW × 2 hours = 4 kWh
Then:
4 kWh × 25p = £1.00
However, this is a simple maximum-style example.
A thermostatically controlled heater may cycle on and off once the room reaches temperature.
Therefore, being switched on for two hours does not necessarily mean the heating element consumes full power for the entire two hours.
Don’t Assume a Lower-Powered Heater Is Always Cheaper
Imagine one heater is rated at 1 kW and another at 2 kW.
The 1 kW heater uses electricity more slowly while both are continuously operating at full output.
However, it also produces heat more slowly.
If the room requires a certain amount of heat, the lower-powered heater may simply need to operate for longer.
Therefore, choosing a low-power heater does not automatically halve your heating bill.
What ultimately matters is how much energy the room requires and how efficiently you control that demand.
Use Your Smart Meter as a Learning Tool
If you have a smart meter, your in-home display or phone app can help you understand how your heating affects electricity use.
Try looking at your consumption:
- Before the heating starts
- While several heaters are operating
- After rooms reach temperature
- Overnight
- On mild days
- On cold days
Over time, patterns should begin to appear.
For example, you might discover that one room takes considerably more energy to keep warm than another.
Alternatively, you may notice a large increase when direct boost heating operates.
Your smart meter does not necessarily identify which appliance is responsible.
However, it can help you understand when your home is using electricity.
Try Simple Experiments
Your smart-meter data can also help you test changes.
For example, you could adjust the heating schedule in one room for several days.
Then compare consumption with similar previous days.
Or you could reduce the thermostat slightly and see whether comfort remains acceptable.
However, compare like with like where possible.
A home naturally requires much more heating on a freezing day than on a mild one.
Therefore, don’t assume that every change in electricity consumption was caused by the setting you altered.
Understand Your Electricity Tariff
With electric heating, the price you pay for electricity can be particularly important.
Check whether you have:
- A single-rate tariff
- Economy 7
- Another multi-rate tariff
- A smart time-of-use tariff
- A legacy heating arrangement
Then find out when each rate applies.
This is especially important if you have storage heating.
Cheap Electricity Is Only Useful If You Can Use It
Suppose your tariff offers very cheap electricity overnight.
That can be extremely useful if you have storage heaters that charge overnight.
It may also help with an immersion-heated hot-water cylinder.
However, if you rely entirely on direct electric radiators and need most of your heating between 5pm and 10pm, a cheap overnight rate may offer much less benefit.
Therefore, don’t choose a tariff simply because one rate looks exceptionally cheap.
Ask:
When does my home actually use electricity?
Then compare the tariff with that pattern.
Use Storage Heaters Differently
Traditional storage heaters need a different strategy from direct electric radiators.
Remember:
Input determines how much heat is stored.
Output determines how quickly that stored heat is released.
If the Input is too low, you may not have enough stored heat.
If the Output is too high, you may release the available heat too quickly.
Then the heater can become cold before the next charging period.
Therefore, don’t try to manage an older storage heater in the same way as an ordinary electric radiator.
Learn more in Storage Heaters Explained →
Be Careful With Boost Heating
Boost heating can be useful when you need additional warmth.
However, first find out what the boost actually does.
On some storage heaters, the boost is a separate direct-acting electric element.
Therefore, it may use electricity at the rate applying when you press the button.
If your storage heater charged overnight using cheap electricity but you then use a direct boost during an expensive evening period, the additional heat may cost considerably more.
Use boost when you need it.
Just understand what you are paying for.
Portable Heaters: Use Them for the Right Job
Portable electric heaters can be useful when you need temporary or localised heat.
For example, a portable heater may make sense if one person needs warmth in a single room for a short period.
However, using several portable heaters throughout the property for long periods can quickly create substantial electricity consumption.
Therefore, think about the job you are asking the heater to do.
Short-term local heating?
A portable heater may be useful.
Whole-home heating every day?
A properly controlled permanent heating system may be more appropriate.
Don’t Be Misled by “Low-Energy” Heater Claims
Conventional resistance heaters cannot create large amounts of extra energy from nowhere.
If two conventional electric heaters each consume 1 kWh of electricity, broadly speaking that electrical energy ultimately becomes heat within the property.
One heater may still provide better comfort or control.
For example:
- Infrared may suit targeted heating
- A fan heater may provide rapid warmth
- An oil-filled radiator may release heat more gradually
- A programmable radiator may provide better scheduling
Those differences can matter.
However, be cautious of claims suggesting that a conventional plug-in resistance heater can somehow provide the same whole-room heating while using a tiny fraction of the electricity through a secret heating technology.
Reduce Heat Loss First
The cheapest unit of heating energy is often the one you never need to buy.
If heat escapes rapidly from the property, your heaters must continually replace it.
Therefore, look for practical ways to reduce heat loss.
Depending on the property, these might include:
- Reducing draughts
- Improving loft insulation
- Improving wall insulation where appropriate
- Improving floor insulation
- Using suitable window improvements
- Closing curtains or blinds after dark
- Keeping external doors closed
- Addressing unnecessary gaps
Some improvements cost very little.
Others require significant investment.
Our Energy Efficiency section explores these measures in more detail.
Don’t Block Your Heaters
Furniture, curtains and other objects can interfere with heat distribution.
For example, placing a large sofa directly against an electric radiator can reduce the amount of useful heat reaching the rest of the room.
Likewise, covering heaters can cause overheating and may be dangerous.
Therefore:
- Keep heater grilles clear
- Follow manufacturer clearance instructions
- Keep curtains away where necessary
- Don’t dry clothes directly on unsuitable heaters
- Don’t cover storage heaters
Good airflow helps heat reach the room where you actually want it.
Close Doors — But Use Common Sense
Closing internal doors can help keep heat in occupied rooms.
This can be particularly useful when heating individual rooms electrically.
However, ventilation still matters.
Some properties rely on particular airflow arrangements, and bathrooms or kitchens need appropriate ventilation to control moisture.
Therefore, don’t block designed ventilation simply to retain heat.
The goal is to reduce unnecessary heat movement, not create poor indoor air quality.
Watch for Draughts
A draught can make a room feel colder even when the air temperature is otherwise reasonable.
As a result, you may turn the thermostat higher simply to compensate for discomfort caused by moving cold air.
Look around:
- Windows
- External doors
- Letterboxes
- Floor edges
- Loft hatches
- Unused openings
Appropriate draught-proofing can improve comfort without increasing the thermostat.
However, never block ventilation that is required for safety or moisture control.
Use Curtains Sensibly
Curtains can help reduce the feeling of cold near windows.
Close them after dark where appropriate.
However, make sure they do not cover or trap heat around electric heaters.
A curtain hanging directly over a heater can send heat towards the window instead of into the room and may create a safety issue.
The heater needs space to work as designed.
Electric Underfloor Heating Needs Planning
Underfloor heating can take longer to warm a space than a fan heater or small electric radiator.
Therefore, repeatedly switching it on only when you suddenly feel cold may not be the best strategy.
Use appropriate thermostats and schedules.
Likewise, don’t leave it running for long periods simply because the floor feels pleasant.
Remember that a large heated floor area can represent a significant electrical load.
Understand Your Hot Water Too
If your home is all-electric, space heating may only be part of the energy bill.
Hot water can also represent a substantial electrical load.
For example, you may have:
- Storage heaters for rooms
- An immersion heater for hot water
Both may use off-peak electricity.
Alternatively, using a daytime immersion boost frequently could increase peak-rate consumption.
Therefore, when investigating a high electricity bill, don’t look only at the room heaters.
Learn more in Immersion Heaters Explained →
Look at the Whole Day
Instead of asking:
“How much does this heater cost per hour?”
also ask:
“How much electricity does my home use over the whole day?”
A heater’s hourly cost can be useful.
However, daily consumption tells you much more about how your heating, hot water and household routines work together.
Your smart-meter data may make this easier to see.
Compare:
Morning → daytime → evening → overnight
Then ask what is operating during each period.
Compare Cold and Mild Days
Weather has a major effect on heating demand.
Therefore, one day’s electricity consumption in January should not necessarily be compared directly with a mild day in April.
Instead, look for patterns.
For example:
Cold day + 35 kWh
Similar cold day after changing settings + 30 kWh
That comparison may be more meaningful.
Even then, other differences can affect consumption, so use the figures as guidance rather than laboratory measurements.
Don’t Sacrifice Comfort for Tiny Savings
Energy efficiency should improve how your home works.
It should not mean sitting in an uncomfortably cold property simply to minimise the meter reading.
A better approach is:
Reduce waste first.
Heat the rooms you need.
Use sensible schedules.
Choose comfortable temperatures.
Understand your tariff.
Reduce heat loss.
Then look for further savings.
The objective is efficient comfort, not simply the lowest possible energy consumption.
A Simple Electric-Heating Routine
You can make electric heating much easier to manage with a simple routine.
Morning
Check that rooms are heating only when needed.
If you use storage heaters, see whether they have stored enough heat.
During the Day
Reduce heating in unused areas where appropriate.
Let thermostats control occupied rooms rather than continually adjusting them.
Evening
Heat the rooms you actually use.
If you have traditional storage heaters, manage Output so that stored heat lasts until you need it.
Avoid unnecessary direct boost heating.
Overnight
Direct heating may be reduced where appropriate.
Meanwhile, storage heaters and hot-water systems may use cheaper electricity if your tariff and controls are designed for this.
When Your Electricity Bill Seems Too High
Don’t immediately assume that your supplier or meter is wrong.
Start by investigating.
Check:
- Your meter reading
- The meter serial number against your bill
- Your unit rate or rates
- The times different rates apply
- Your heating schedules
- Storage-heater charging
- Direct boost heating
- Immersion-heater use
- Other large electrical loads
- Your recent consumption history
Then compare the findings with previous periods.
A high bill can sometimes reveal a control or tariff problem rather than simply excessive heating.
Five Questions to Ask
If you want to reduce electric-heating costs, start with these:
1. What type of electric heating do I have?
Direct, storage, electric boiler, underfloor or something else?
2. Which rooms actually need heating?
Avoid heating unused spaces unnecessarily.
3. When do I need those rooms warm?
Match schedules to your routine.
4. When does my heating use electricity?
This is especially important with storage heating.
5. What am I paying for electricity at those times?
Match the tariff to the way your home actually uses energy.
Those five answers provide a strong foundation for improving electric-heating efficiency.
In Short
Using electric heating efficiently does not require complicated rules.
Start with the basics:
Heat the rooms you use.
Heat them when you need them.
Choose comfortable rather than excessive temperatures.
Use thermostats and schedules rather than continually adjusting heaters.
Understand storage-heater Input and Output.
Avoid unnecessary peak-rate boost heating.
Use smart-meter data to understand your consumption.
Match your tariff to when you actually use electricity.
Reduce heat loss from the property.
Most importantly, don’t judge electric heating by one number alone.
The heater, controls, property, electricity tariff and household routine all work together.
Once you understand how those pieces interact, you can make better decisions about when to heat your home, where to heat it and how much electricity you really need.
Energility
Understand More. Spend Less. Live Better.