New data reveals how much it really costs to keep your home at a safe temperature

• Ahead of National Energy Action’s Fuel Poverty Awareness Day tomorrow (Wednesday 27 November), new exclusive data comes from the University of Salford’s full-sized test house.
• Heating your home to 18°C rather than the potentially health-threatening 16°C would cost 66p more per day.
• From January 6.1 million UK households will be in fuel poverty, according to National Energy Action.

Working with the University of Salford, fuel poverty charity, National Energy Action¹ has revealed how much it really costs to keep your home at a safe temperature.

The new exclusive data from Salford’s Energy House test facility highlights that householders putting their health in danger by rationing their energy use below 18°C are only saving 66p per day.

The charity says that the cost of January’s energy price cap increase (announced on Friday) of £21 is equivalent to over a month of having to reduce your thermostat to an unhealthy temperature². The analysis is published ahead of National Energy Action’s Fuel Poverty Awareness Day³ tomorrow (Wednesday 27 November).

18°C is the recommended minimum to avoid risks to respiratory and cardiovascular health in healthy adults. Yet, last winter 97% of callers to the charity’s National Energy Action’s Energy Advice and Support line said they were unable to keep their homes warm. They report turning their heating down to unsafe levels or off completely because they couldn’t afford their bills. With bills still high, customers owing over £3.7 billion of debt and less support than last winter, the situation is likely to worsen.

National Energy Action Chief Executive Adam Scorer says,

‘Every day, our advisers speak to clients who turn down their heating below a healthy level of warmth. They hope to save pounds every day. Our work with Salford shows the cost difference could be much less than most people think. 

‘At the same time, the health and wellbeing impact of a home heated below 18 degrees can be far worse than people know. For every degree below 18, cold homes take an increasing toll on people’s health, wellbeing and lives.

‘Cold homes, cause ill health. Our work with Salford is to understand how the decisions that people take to cope with unaffordable bills affect them, and how we might guide them towards better approaches. We know that rationing and self disconnecting comes at an unacceptable price to their health and wellbeing.

‘Another winter of high prices and diminishing support means millions of underheated homes and an annual public health emergency. Additional targeted energy bill support from government could mean households could keep their homes warm. Bringing in a larger energy discount or a new social tariff could protect low-income households. Crucially, the government’s Warm Homes Plan needs to invest in energy efficiency to make fuel poor homes cheaper and easier to heat.’

A number of tests took place at the cutting-edge Energy House facility⁴ over October and November with a conventional gas fired central heating system to generate these results. They compared the daily winter running costs of the system with different thermostat settings.

6.1 million UK households will be in fuel poverty

The charity says with energy bills set to rise again further in January, 6.1 million UK households will be in fuel poverty and are likely to cut back their energy use to dangerous levels or slip into further energy debts. The price cap announcement came just days before National Energy Action’s Fuel Poverty Awareness Day on Wednesday. As well as underlining the challenge of people keeping warm, the day will help highlight the solutions. National Energy Action has shared the following details of a client who needs to keep her home warm:

Amanda lives with her partner and adult child in a local authority property. She suffers from severe respiratory conditions and, as a result, was let go from her job a few years ago. She uses a nebuliser and a CPAP machine. Amanda was advised by medical staff to maintain her home at 21°C in order to protect her health and wellbeing. Due to the cost of living and the cost of energy, Amanda has found this next to impossible to do.

Through National Energy Action’s Warm Home Prescription scheme, Amanda received £700 on her gas meter. She also received tailored energy advice support and was signposted to organisations that could offer further help regarding the accessibility improvements needed in her property. Amanda also received one of the charity’s Winter Warmth Support Packs.

For more information on the Fuel Poverty Awareness Day go to www.nea.org.uk/who-we-are/nea-campaigns/fpad. The charity is calling on supporters to:

• Share social media assets highlighting the realities of fuel poverty. You can download the supporter pack here.

• Write to their elected representative to call for more support for people in fuel poverty this winter using National Energy Action’s template.

• Help raise vital funds by taking part in the Nation’s Biggest Housewarming from 25 – 29 November.

• Make a donation to support the charity’s services and receive a free keyring.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• National Energy Action (NEA), is the national fuel poverty charity, working across England, Wales and Northern Ireland, to improve the lives of people in fuel poverty. We directly support people with energy and income maximisation advice, and we advocate on issues such as the current energy crisis and the need to improve the energy efficiency of our homes. See: www.nea.org.uk/. 
• Energy House 1 test results:

• Difference from setting at 16°C to setting at 18°C is 66p per day. (£59.28 for the winter.) Prices based on average gas unit cost from Ofgem for the current Energy Price Cap
• National Energy Action’s Fuel Poverty Awareness Day (FPAD) takes place on Wednesday 27 November. There are currently 6 million UK households in fuel poverty – unable to stay warm, safe and healthy at home. Our Supporter Pack and more information can be found here: www.nea.org.uk/who-we-are/nea-campaigns/fpad.
• The University of Salford’s Energy House 1 is a full-sized test house, built within an environmental chamber. The house is a traditional UK ‘two-up, two-down’ Victorian end-terrace property with a wet central heating system with radiators fed by a gas condensing combination boiler. While the loft was insulated for the tests, the solid walls were uninsulated. Data from the Climate Change Committee indicates that there are 7.8 million homes in the UK with uninsulated solid walls. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Full-Report-Development-of-trajectories-for-residential-heat-decarbonisation-to-inform-the-Sixth-Carbon-Budget-Element-Energy.pdf
• The links between cold homes and ill health are well recognised. When the temperature falls below 16°C, respiratory function is impaired. When it reaches 12°C increased strain is placed on the cardiovascular system. When the temperature reaches 5-8°C, an increased risk of death can be observed at population level. Whilst cold weather directly triggers these impacts, it can take 3 days after a cold spell for deaths from coronary thrombosis to peak, and 12 days for deaths from respiratory conditions. It can take up to 40 days for deaths to return to average levels.
• The definition of fuel poverty that National Energy Action uses is that a household is in fuel poverty if it needs to spend 10% or more of its income on energy in order to maintain a satisfactory heating regime.
• A 2023 study looked at the impact of the energy crisis on what households are setting their heating to. Compared to before the energy crisis, the proportion of Households who say they are setting their heating at lower than 18°C increased from 6.7% to 15.2%. 34% of the group which reported that they could not afford to keep their living room comfortably warm reported setting their heating at below 18°C. https://www.nea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Hanmer_Zapata-Webborn_ColderHomes.pdf
• Testing at Energy House 1 is ongoing, and National Energy Action will publish more findings soon.
• Earlier this week National Energy Action warned millions are missing out on Cold Weather Payments. https://www.nea.org.uk/news/cold-weather-payment-nov-24/