Energy at home

Heating your home

Improving the efficiency of your heating system is one of the most important steps you can take to reduce your fuel bills and your carbon dioxide emissions.

In most households, half the money spent on fuel bills goes on heating and supplying hot water.

If we are to reach the net zero carbon emissions target set by the UK Government, we will need to reduce the carbon emissions from heating our homes by 95% over the next 30 years.

To put this into perspective, the average household generated 2,745kg of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from heating in 2017. That’s the same volume of CO₂ as filling 18,000 baths.

To reach the 2050 target, we need to reduce this to 138kg per household, which would be the equivalent of driving four times around the M25 motorway.

There are likely to be significant changes ahead to how we heat our homes to meet these targets. But in the meantime, there is a lot you can do right now to make your heating system more energy efficient.

Heating and hot water

Over half the money spent on household fuel bills goes towards heating your home and providing hot water, with these costs continuing to rise every year.

Whether you use central heating or electric storage heaters to keep warm, we’ve got some great advice on what you can do to make your heating system more efficient.

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Boilers

The boiler plays an important role in your home, heating water for the kitchen and bathroom, as well as the water that is supplied to your radiators.

Boilers lose efficiency over time, needing more energy to heat less water. If you think your boiler is causing your energy bills to rise, you might need to consider replacing it with a more energy efficient one.

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Thermostats and controls

Your heating system at home, whether central heating or electric, will come with a set of heating controls you can use to control when your heating comes on, which rooms it comes on in, as well as set the temperature.

Checking your heating controls regularly and making sensible changes will not only reduce the amount of carbon dioxide your home generates, but will also save you money on your heating bills.

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