Original subtitles

Last year was one of the most brutally expensive winters on record.

Nearly half of all households across Britain struggled

to pay their energy bills.

So, with energy prices high,

and pensioner Winter Fuel Payments cut for many,

I'm on a mission to see how we can heat our homes for less this winter.

This programme will reveal the simple changes you can make

right now that could save you hundreds on your energy bills.

From the savviest ways to heat your home...

Do it like this.

..to inspiration from around the world.

Cos this is the first I've heard of it here in the UK.

We reveal the surprising truth about hot water bottles.

Might cost a little bit more.

What?

And how bubble bath could save you money.

We've got all the gadgets you'll need to stay warm this winter.

Oh, wow!

We use thermal technology to discover just how much energy

is slipping through our fingers.

We're actually losing the heat.

And meet the families joining our bill-busting challenge

to see how much they can save using our tips and tricks.

Kind of like halved the bills.

Halved the bills, yeah. Which is... That's a trip to Spain.

From your home to the Houses of Parliament,

energy prices are a hot topic.

Here in Britain, we pay some of the highest prices for electricity

in the whole world, with our bills nearly 40% more than Spain,

over 60% more than Norway

and over 80% more than the United States.

And our reliance on imported gas means we are hit hard by price hikes

when the market changes.

Building up more of our own renewable energy sources in Britain

could be a real game-changer.

But until that happens, it's us, the general public, who pay the price.

Cost of bills, everything is just increasing every single day.

But it's still a lot more than what...

But it's still a lot more. Doubled, hasn't it?

In the last couple of years. And now we're not getting

the fuel allowance, are we? No, we're not.

Well, just have to save on other things like food bills,

clothing, go out less.

So we're feeling the pinch.

But just how savvy are we about the energy we're using in our homes?

Don't put the heating on as much, you have to put on an extra layer.

We go out, don't we? We go out. Yeah, we go out.

I don't have a tumble dryer

and I do things like a short wash on my washing machine.

We'll go and have a coffee in Marks and a walk round

and you're saving the heating. Yeah, we go out.

And buy blankets. Have you got... Have you...?

And get... And get a dog to keep me warm. Yes. Aw.

Cos we need to keep you warm this winter, don't we?

What I want to know is which tips and hacks are really

going to save me cash in my home as I get winter ready.

With so much information out there,

it's hard to know what's fact and what's not.

But, listen up because there are some little things that -

I've been told by the experts - can make a big difference.

For a start, I'm bleeding my radiators using this little tool.

You can pick up a valve key like this from most DIY shops.

Bleeding your radiators can make them heat up more efficiently,

which will help bring down your bills.

I'm turning my heating down on the thermostat by one degree.

Just one degree can save you up to a massive 10%.

And there's plenty more where that came from.

I'm on a mission to find out every hack, tip and trick

there is to know about heating our homes for less.

For ten days, families across Britain will be putting our advice

and hacks into practice

to see if they can save on their energy bills.

Hi, we're Sam and Louise.

Heya. My name's Shemari. My name is Luke.

We are the Timms from Manchester.

Hi, I'm Sarah. And I'm Andrew.

And this is our igloo house. Single glazed.

The heating's on all the time.

We can do three or four loads of washing a day.

Our energy bills are sky-high.

My wife takes around 45-minute showers.

Like every woman. I don't get it.

Help us save money, please. Please.

Well, Sarah, I'm not one to disappoint.

Help is on the way.

A good place for us all to start to bring down our bills

is to make sure we're on the best energy deal on the market.

But with around 20 companies out there offering different tariffs,

it can be confusing.

And that's stopping around 20% of us from making the switch.

So, I'm meeting an expert who's spent 15 years

advising people on all things financial.

He's written books, he's a regular on TV and radio

and he's helped thousands of people to take control of their money

and find ways to save, Emmanuel Asuquo.

Emmanuel, I feel like we all need your help right now.

How can we save?

You have to compare. And that's the thing,

your energy provider can only give you the best deal

that they have and they're gonna tell you, you know,

"This is the best deal that we can give you." But that doesn't mean

that's the best deal in the market.

So, it's really important for you to get the best deal

from your energy provider and get what they can give you

and then see what else is out there and see if you can beat it.

You know, doing the comparisons, for me,

I just feel like I'm that typical person that thinks,

it just sounds like a lot of admin. Is it?

You know what? It's actually so simple.

I mean, you can compare within under ten minutes.

Really? And...and you can save hundreds of pounds, potentially.

And any saving's good, right?

Oh, any saving is wonderful. I'm the type of person,

I'll save £5 and be over the moon. Me too.

Let alone 50, like. All right. So let's go.

Emmanuel is using his own house details

to show me how it's done. Come on, clock's ticking.

Put your address in, it finds your address

and then we just click continue.

We're using Uswitch but there are a number of other

comparison websites you can use.

For the websites to work their magic,

all you need is your address and your electricity and gas usage.

As long as you've got your bill,

all of the information will be there.

And look, so that was that quick. So I literally put in...

Yeah. That was so quick.

Based on...on my information it says that I can save £75 for the year.

That's an outfit, for going out.

And it took less than, what, four minutes, five minutes?

Yeah. And how much can you save if you do make that change?

Depending on how much you spend in households,

anywhere from, you know, £50 all the way up to £300.

So they could...it could be a lot,

depending on what your household use,

how many people are using it, how big your house is.

You only need a few. So what are you gonna do with your £75 saving?

Good question. It's...it's nothing to do with me,

it's what my wife's gonna do with the £75. You're gonna treat her?

Yeah. Top tip.

So it's quick and easy

and there are great savings to be made.

Some suppliers even offer smart tariffs, rewarding you

for using energy during off-peak hours like overnight or at weekends,

so you can save even more cash.

But, no matter how good a deal you're on,

to be really savvy you need to keep

a close eye on just how much energy you're using.

These little gadgets have become all the rage.

Nearly two thirds of us have now switched from

an old meter to a smart meter

but do they actually help bring your bills down or do they just make you

tense when you hear someone turning on the tumble dryer?

I've invited round consumer expert Harry Kind from Which?

to help unravel the mystery of smart meters

and how to get them working best for you.

Right, I've got one of these in my house. Yes.

Hidden in a corner cos I don't like to look at it.

What does it actually do?

That is just the display for your smart meter.

How should I use this to save myself money?

You can see on there how much you're using right now.

What it has is the price, how much it's costing you per hour.

And then it will also see how much it's added up over

the day and over a week to allow you

to make a nice comparison day-to-day, week-to-week.

I do think it's useful because you can work out

what in your house is costing you a lot to run.

You can experiment for yourself.

One day, have the heating on low and slow constantly,

see how much it costs. The next day,

you put it on when you're in and off when you're out,

see how much it costs. And if you're trying to save,

you will see that number creep down over time.

Sounds good to me.

So, smart meters are a game-changer

for monitoring how much we're spending each day on our energy

and they're totally free.

Just contact your energy supplier

and they will arrange for someone to come round and fit one.

But if you're not ready to join

the smart meter revolution, there's another way.

Denise, I've got a...a new gadget for you here.

This is basically an energy monitor.

These cost £10, £12.

And they plug in where you plug any gadget in.

You turn it on

and then you can plug in whatever you want

and see how much energy it's using in real time.

Right, I tong my hair pretty much every day. Yeah.

So I'd love to know how much my tongs are costing me.

Plug 'em in.

So those will be heating up.

And immediately you can see that's gone up to what,

340 watts, 330, it's kind of dancing around that.

Is that a lot?

Not a huge amount, really.

You know, it's costing you less than 10p per hour.

Great news for my hair and my bills.

So, which appliances are really eating up

the electricity in your home?

The biggest culprits are washing machines,

tumble driers and dishwashers,

which together account for around 14% of a typical energy bill.

But washing your clothes at 30 degrees instead

of 40 will save you around 40% of the energy used each year.

Next up, fridges and freezers.

They're continuously on

and they're responsible for around 13% of your bill.

But if you fill your freezer to capacity,

it will run more efficiently.

TVs, game consoles and laptops all together take up about 6%,

not a huge chunk but switching them off standby

could save you around £45 a year.

And lighting adds around 5% to the total.

But replace all the bulbs in your house with LED lights

and you could save £40 a year on your electricity bills.

And now, it's time for some serious hacks. It's time to meet Adam,

our heating hack geek,

with some tips that won't cost you a thing

and you could do them right now.

Adam Chapman has been a heating engineer for 20 years.

And for the past ten years has been sharing his advice online and top

of his tips to save big on our energy bills,

is to get to grips with our heating systems.

The cost of energy is constantly increasing

but there are things you can personally do

at home to save money.

Over to you, Adam.

If there is one thing you can do today, right now,

it would be to turn down your boiler's flow temperature.

If you have a modern boiler,

that's any boiler under 20 years old,

look for the little radiator symbol

and there should be a dial there.

These are often set up to 70 or 80 degrees,

which is very inefficient for a modern boiler.

These want to be turned down to around 60% centigrade.

That will save you up to £200 a year.

On top of that, prolong the life of your boiler.

Well done, Denise, I know you've bled your radiators.

But how do you know if you need to bleed your radiators?

Just feel your radiator while it's switched on

and at the top here, you'll feel it's cold.

That means it's full of air

and the air needs to be bled out of the radiator.

It's important to do,

cos just that tiny bit

of air will lower the radiator output by 30%.

Every single degree you turn down

your room thermostat will save you on your heating bill.

One of the most missed things by homeowners is forgetting

to service their boiler.

That can save you an additional 10% on your gas bill.

So, just a little tweak of your boiler settings in

the commercial break could save you cash.

But don't be long because when you come back,

I'll be revealing the energy efficiency of my house.

Oh. Put my postcode in. Don't look.

And we're in hot pursuit of where the cold gets in.

Oh, wow. That's so clear. I'm hot stuff.

You're hot stuff Denise, confirmed.

When winter weather strikes,

heating costs can go through the roof.

That's why I'm on a mission to discover how

to heat your home for less this winter.

So far, we've looked at how we can switch and save on our energy bills.

I'm the type of person, I'll save £5 and be over the moon.

Me too! Let alone 50.

And we've tackled some simple heating hacks that

could save you big in moments.

Our families across the UK have been putting

the tips into practice, starting with the old favourite,

turning down their thermostats by one degree.

Not happy about doing this. Right, it can go to 20.

Get this guy down to 18. Put him in the living room,

where we actually live, and see what he does.

For some, one degree colder has been a breeze.

I've got to say, I've not noticed it being any colder at all.

For others, the change has been more noticeable.

You can really feel the difference. The house is so cold.

Um, I think we need to review this.

Maybe turn it up a little bit.

And how are they getting on with their energy suppliers?

Currently, we're on a pay-as-you-go for gas and electric,

which is costing us a lot of money.

The good news is that they're coming out this week

to change to a smart meter and we're going to be on a tariff

which is one of the cheapest options.

So that's good and we'll be saving money.

They did suggest a slightly cheaper tariff was

going to be £11 a month cheaper,

which she said was about £139 a year saving.

That's more cash in the bank for just a few minutes' work.

Once you're heating your home efficiently,

how do you stop the heat from leaking out?

On average, our UK homes are leaking heat at around three times

the rate of our European neighbours in countries including

Germany, Austria and Sweden.

In the UK, latest data shows that homes in Northern Ireland

come out on top for keeping the warmth in,

followed by Scotland and England,

with the leakiest homes in Wales.

Topping the table with the most energy-efficient housing in England

is Tower Hamlets and the City of London.

In Wales, it's Glamorgan, Cardiff, Newport and Torfaen.

And in Scotland, Glasgow City and Renfrewshire come out top.

Leaking the most heat, homes in the Isles of Scilly in England,

Gwynedd and Ceredigion in Wales, and the Outer Hebrides

and the Orkney Islands in Scotland.

But there's one street that we think is

the most energy efficient in Britian.

Howgate Close in Nottinghamshire has nine home specially built

to be super-smart with energy,

and Andrew is one of 15 people who live there.

In this year, I've not paid anything towards my energy bill.

My heating hasn't been on since last November

and it's never dropped below 19 and a half degrees.

What is this wizardry?

Simon is one of the people behind the design of these modern marvels.

We've got solar power.

We've got very low energy underfloor heating.

We've got big, triple-glazing glass,

which is taking all that free energy from the sun

and it's that well-insulated that there are people living in it and

the appliances they switch on and off during the day,

they're actually heating their own homes.

But here's the most brilliant part,

with a house this efficient,

residents like Andrew are even able to make money.

Any excess power the house isn't using

gets exported back to the grid.

I've been paid for my energy.

Andrew has pocketed over £800 since May this year.

We wanted to prove that energy-affordable homes

are achievable with methods that exist in the here and now.

This is a real opportunity

to put money back in homeowners' pockets.

Not many of us live in houses as energy-efficient as this.

But we can find out how we compare.

I've been told that if you go onto

the government website, it's really easy.

And I need to get an EPC,

which is an energy performance certificate.

Right, let's see if it is easy. So I'm on there now.

Click on start, continue. Oh, put my postcode in.

Don't look.

Ooh, the moment of truth. Here is my EPC.

Let's have a look at my energy rating.

I'm a 'C' in this house. Is that a good or a bad thing?

Rating and score. OK, so it goes from A to G.

So actually, C is pretty good.

Wherever your home ranks,

there are ways you can try to improve your score.

Not only could this slash your energy bills,

it might also add value when you come to sell.

First, it's useful to figure out where the heat is escaping.

Usually, if you see someone lurking outside a house at night,

it's a cause for concern.

But this is thermal imaging expert Ray Langford from

Visual Perspectives, whose job is to find out

where heat is escaping from in our homes.

And the best time to do a survey of the exterior is at night.

But luckily for me, surveying the interior is done in daylight.

So you must be Ray.

I am Ray. Nice to meet you, Denise.

I'm joining Ray for his survey of this Victorian terrace in Manchester.

His findings will show the homeowners where

the heat is escaping and improvements they can make.

The property currently has a low energy performance rating of 'E'

so it could definitely do with some help.

Ray, what exactly are you doing in here with this contraption?

Well, this is a thermal imaging camera.

We use it for analysing properties for defects.

Looking for damp and cold and areas of heat loss.

This is a Victorian property, so the external walls are solid,

so there's no insulation. This is the external wall.

This is the party wall to the heated property next door.

So we can see there's no heat loss here.

But on the external wall, it's extremely cold.

If you want to put your hand just below where the mask is.

OK.

It doesn't take long. And there you go.

What? Can you see? There's a handprint of your hand.

Is there really? On the wall already, yeah.

Wow. That's all down to the sensitivity of the camera.

Your body temperature has immediately affected

the surface of the property.

I'm hot stuff.

You're hot stuff, Denise, confirmed.

Insulating single brick walls is a big job costing

a few thousand pounds

but it could save you hundreds of pounds each year

on your energy bills.

Roughly 35% of heat loss is through walls and gaps in

and around windows and draughty doors.

If you look into the camera, we can see that

the areas that are in black and dark purples,

this is the cold coming in from underneath the door.

And in areas around the frame.

Even though there is a draught excluder there,

that's not really doing anything.

Not effectively, no.

And...and it's not working because we can see the spikes.

So there's actually...that's, the spikes is actually the air,

the cold air coming in.

And that means it's an actual draught, not just heat loss.

So would it help if you get...you know,

one of those like big sausage draught excluders,

they're like pillows, aren't they?

You just shove 'em at the bottom of the door. Does that help?

Absolutely. That's...that's probably the best thing that you can do.

Yeah. And they're not too expensive.

Yeah. Exactly. That's...that's a good way to start.

So you don't really have to spend a great amount

to make some improvements?

Not for draughtproofing. Not at all.

Lined curtains are also a great way to block draughts.

And carpet with good underlay keeps

the heat in much better than exposed wooden floors like this house.

And Ray has spotted something beneath the floorboards too.

Quite interestingly,

we can now see the heating pipes below the timber floor.

If you want to improve the overall energy efficiency

of the heating system,

I would recommend that you...you insulate the pipework.

And it's a similar story when you look up.

So a lot of heat loss is actually lost through

the ceiling itself. If the...the joists aren't insulated,

heat will escape into the loft.

So very important, if you're having

a loft conversion is that it's insulated properly

and done to building regulations.

I'd highly recommend that you insulate the ceiling.

But it could be costly, couldn't it?

It can be but it's more comfortable in the house

and over time your heating bills will be less.

Potentially a lot less.

Adding loft insulation can reduce bills by up to £340 per year.

Getting a professional thermal imaging survey like this costs from

around £250, depending on the size of your home.

But you can also do it yourself.

Some local councils and energy companies

are loaning them out for free, or like our families,

you can go online and you'll find plenty of rental companies

who hire them out from £95 a week.

Hello. It looks like a speed gun.

So it looks like we've found

a draughty spot here underneath the basement door.

Definitely a bit in that same sort of corner there.

I'm going to make a home-made draught excluder

and see if that makes any difference whatsoever.

Push it up close, Sarah.

That all looks toasty hot down there.

This is the hallway, the porch. Oh, we can feel the cold air,

we don't need a camera to work...

Yeah. You can see the temperature drop off.

Um, after putting the sock down on the...the door at

the basement, I am really surprised at

the temperature difference from yesterday morning until today.

And it costs nothing.

Right, get yourself a pen and paper

because here's some more hacks that you can do at home

to stop it from leaking heat and save you money.

Over to you, Adam.

There is no point in paying to heat up your home,

only to let all the heat out by a big hole in the roof.

If you do have a chimney,

and specifically you aren't using the fireplace,

make sure you plug that chimney gap with either

an old duvet or a purpose-made chimney balloon.

I often sometimes use a chimney umbrella.

A chimney umbrella will also catch all the dirt

so if you want to use the fireplace again,

you just collect it up,

shake it outside and you can use your fireplace.

Just by plugging your chimney could save you 10% off your heating bill.

Of course, the other big hole in your home is the front door.

And if your letterbox is letting through a draught,

you can pick up one of these quite cheaply.

It's a letterbox draught excluder with brushes in.

And just fix this to the front of the door

to stop any air coming through.

Draughtproofing old doors and windows in your home

can save you up to £50 a year on your heating bills.

A roll of draught-excluding strip,

such as this stuff here, is under £10.

You can put this around your doors

and windows to plug any gaps and stop the draughts.

Or you can use a brush seal such as this one

to put along the bottom of doors.

And while we're keeping all the heat in the house,

make sure that any internal doors you have are fully closed.

This will prevent any draughts you do have

spreading throughout the rest of the house.

Great tips, Adam.

So now we know how to keep the heat in

but where's the warmth going to come from in the first place?

Let's see what consumer expert Harry has

to say about my heating habits.

I always wanted one of these. Yeah.

The aga cooker, cos they look great.

But is this costing me a lot of money?

I mean, what do you think?

It's a great big old, kind of, massive pile of metal.

It's on all day. So, yeah, it uses quite a bit.

What about log fires?

Are they good for keeping your house warm?

They're really controversial.

The main thing is that they put out a load of particulates,

not good for air quality.

In terms of price, if you're using the proper seasoned,

kiln-dried logs that you should be using,

it can be expensive, it's not gonna be cheaper

than...than central heating most of the time.

So, when it comes to saving money, agas,

open fires and log burners are not your best friends.

But what about electric heaters?

There's all sorts of types of electric heaters.

We've got two types here of fan heaters,

and they're effectively a hairdryer or

the heater that you've got in your car.

They heat up air and they blow it at you with a fan.

This is a convection radiator

and instead of having a fan blowing the air out,

the air just warms up, rises through

and cycles round like it would in a radiator in

the rest of your house.

This then is an oil-filled radiator.

They look a lot more like a kind of...a standard radiator.

And what they do is that they heat up oil within here

and that stays hot for longer.

So these are instant, that's a bit of a...

It's a slow burner. Exactly right. Right.

The big question is fan versus oil, which is better?

Well, it could well cost you more to run a fan heater

because you open a window or a door,

suddenly all of that hot air will go.

With an oil-filled radiator,

that heat stays in the... In the radiator.

So, fan heaters are fast and furious and oil heaters are slow and steady.

Running any of these heaters costs around 55p per hour.

So if I've got a room that I use say as a little office,

is it worth using an electric heater rather than

putting on the heating on continuous?

It may well be. You know, if you're having to

heat up one small room an electric heater might be cheaper.

The problem is, electricity costs four times as much as gas,

and so all of these,

they're costing you more than central heating, generally.

So if you're looking to heat just one small room,

an electric heater could save you money.

But central heating definitely wins as

the most cost-effective way to heat your whole home.

Coming up, could it be time to say goodbye to your hot water bottle?

What? I know, it's... It...

Do you know that's blown my mind.

I do it like this.

And a German heating hack that I was not expecting.

Cause this is the first I've heard of it here in the UK.

I am gonna give it a try.

With winter on its way,

the decorations aren't the only thing going up.

So too are our energy bills.

So far, we've tracked down those sneaky spots

where the cold creeps in.

Can I have a look? Oh, wow, that's so clear.

And sussed out the best solutions to stop it in its tracks.

Draughtproofing old doors and windows in your home

can save you up to £50 a year on your heating bill.

One thing that will send your smart meter into overdrive

is washing and drying clothes throughout the winter months.

I'm guilty of some of this, putting wet clothes on a radiator,

drying your clothes on a clothes horse indoors or

using a tumble dryer.

So what is the cheapest and best way to dry clothes?

I've come along to the Good Housekeeping Institute,

where they've been finding out.

Katie Mortram is the household advice editor

and knows a thing or two about drying our smalls indoors.

So, I always use my tumble dryer. Are they really expensive to run?

So there are pros and cons to using a tumble dryer.

Um, on the one hand it's quick to use

but it does cost a lot more energy to run.

And just how much depends on the type of drier you have.

There's actually three types of tumble dryer.

You've got vented, which, as the name suggests,

is literally venting the moisture

and the hot air to the outside.

Then you've got condenser models,

which probably you will have seen before.

That's when you just slide out the drawer

and it's got a tank of water that it's actually separated.

Um and then you've got heat pump models.

And what those do is they're actually recycling

the hot air that they use rather than venting it,

so much less energy, cheaper to run.

Vented and condenser tumble driers are the cheapest

to buy at around £250.

But they are the most expensive to run.

Vented cost around 90p per load in energy whilst

the condenser is a bit cheaper

at around 80p per load.

But winning the battle for efficiency is

the heat pump tumble dryer.

They're the most expensive to buy,

starting at around £350

but they typically cost just 32p per load in energy.

And Katie has some tips that can make any tumble dryer

even more efficient.

One of my favourite ones would actually be

to use these little wool drier balls.

So they...they normally... Oh, what's that?

Yeah, they normally come in packs of three or four.

It's literally just a little bit of wool.

Um and you pop that in with your laundry

and essentially it bounces around as the drum rotates.

And that essentially helps...it speeds up the drying process.

I've never seen these before. Yeah, they're brilliant.

And what about alternative ways to dry our clothes in winter?

This is a heated airer.

So this will use up less energy compared to the tumble dryer.

So let's weigh this up, though.

Because if it's gonna be on for longer and everything's

gonna take longer to dry then surely you're gonna be using

more energy than the tumble dryer?

No, so the tumble dryer is taking up more energy

to basically heat itself whereas this,

the heating is minimal.

Another benefit is you've got these covers which go over

the top and then that can trap the heat

and help the clothes dry faster.

So actually, it is cost-effective to have one of these.

This heated airer dries clothes in around three hours at

a cost of around 24p in energy.

That's cheaper than most energy efficient tumble driers.

While this model is top of the range,

costing £350 to buy, you can get smaller,

cheaper options for less than 100 quid.

But one thing to bear in mind with, well, any kind of airer,

whether heated or...or manual is obviously there's gonna be a lot

of moisture coming from your clothes as they dry,

which does increase the humidity in your home.

Oh, I knew there'd be a snag.

Condensation or damp in the home can be

a big issue in winter. Not only can it lead to mould,

it also causes your energy bills to soar

because moist air requires more energy to heat.

So, what are the best hacks

for dealing with condensation in your home?

Over to you, Adam.

The bathroom is one of the biggest generators

of moisture in your home but there are quite a few little tricks

we can show you to reduce that amount of moisture

and save you some money while doing it.

Whilst having a shower or bath,

make sure that your extractor is turned on or your window is open

to make sure humidity levels are kept low.

The cheapest option here is to have a cold shower.

If you can't quite stomach that,

I would suggest just running

a quick blast of cold water at the end of your shower

for about two minutes.

And what will happen there is the steam in

the air will condense against the cold water

and just be poured down the drain.

If you prefer a nice long, hot bath to a shower,

a couple of things you can do.

Don't fill with hot water only

to cool it back down afterwards, fill it with warm water,

then warm it if needed. But more importantly,

if you put in bubble bath nice and early, this creates

a nice insulative layer on top which means it retains heat for longer

and prevents steam leaving the bath,

which causes condensation. But also,

because it retains that heat, you don't have

to keep on burning gas, topping it up,

making your bath hot while you're lying in it,

so it saves you money too.

Now, I've heard that in Germany they tackle

the damp air in their homes by opening their windows. Why?

They commonly call it 'shock ventilation' which means

opening all the windows in a home for three minutes to let

the humid air escape quickly.

Simon Muller is a scientist at the University at Munich

and researches how this can actually make it easier

and cheaper to heat a house.

And I leave it like this just for three minutes.

This is actually quite popular in Germany I would say, yeah.

Do you do this every day?

Yeah, you do that every day.

You're taking the moisture out? Yes.

Right, I can understand that part but then how is it saving us money?

When you have less humidity in a room in the air,

it warms up faster.

And then you close the windows and the...the room temperature

will rise instantly again because air doesn't contain that much heat.

The most heat in the building is basically in the walls.

So if you just open the windows shortly

and just let the air exchange, you don't lose much heat, so...

I think I am gonna give it a try. Yeah. I just won't...

I'll forget to close the window. I get very distracted.

So cracking open a window

can actually bring your heating bills down.

I've also heard that in Japan,

they like to sit around a kotatsu table to stay warm

and keep their bills down.

It has an electric heater attached underneath

and a heavy blanket on top to trap in the warm heat. Clever.

Gadgets designed to keep you cosy seem

to be everywhere at the moment.

It's a multi-million pound industry.

Back at the Good Housekeeping Institute,

head of testing Angela Trofymova has been putting

the latest technology through its paces

to find out which items really give you bang for your buck.

I love to be nice and toasty. OK.

And I've read online that a lot of people are saying

that if you just heat yourself, don't worry about heating a room,

it's more cost-effective. Is it true?

It is sort of true, to be honest.

So I've got a couple of examples here.

They're very kind of comparable kind of options

but they target different areas.

This is a blanket and it's dual heat.

So basically if you and your partner like different temperatures,

you can actually kind of customise it.

That's actually brilliant.

It's almost genius. Why haven't I got one?

I don't know. We're gonna sort you out.

This one next to you is actually battery charged.

It has infrared technology so it heats you up

and it also heats the object that it lies on.

This I'm guessing must be...you've either got one massive foot.

Or for... Or for two feet to go into.

So... But it looks really cosy.

This is very cosy

but it is kind of...you've got to be stationary.

You're working from home, you're feeling a little bit chilly.

This will heat you up nicely and keep you toasty.

You would have to remember though, wouldn't you,

you've got your feet in there, if you stand up you'd go flying.

Yeah, you do.

So there are a lot of options out there

but what about saving money?

The chair warmer is the most expensive item here,

costing around £140.

For the footwarmer and the dual-heated blanket,

you're looking at around £50 up front.

But all of them typically cost less than a penny per hour to run.

It's actually really economical.

So you can have a cost-effective duvet day?

Indeed.

But what I want to know is how an old-time classic stacks up.

The humble hot water bottle which you can buy for just a fiver.

So these are really lovely and a kind of,

a more old-fashioned way to be able to heat yourself up.

But this option might cost a little bit more.

What? I know, it's... It's a little bit...

But hang on a minute.

So you can have an electric blanket on

but a hot water bottle is gonna cost you more? Why?

Depends what your tariff is at home and depends what your...

Who your energy provider is.

But it's between four and 6p for you to heat up

a...a full kettle.

So that works out a little bit more expensive than the other options.

I don't know, that's blown my mind.

So hot water bottles are slightly more expensive to use

but still way cheaper to buy.

And any of these items will cost you less than turning on your gas

central heating which costs well over £1 an hour for a typical boiler.

But remember, it's recommended that you have your heating on

to some degree during the winter to avoid damp

and condensation.

And don't forget to keep yourself nice and warm in bed.

Make sure you've got the right tog duvet. Goodnight.

A tog rating between 13 to 15 is best for winter.

While I get a bit of shut-eye,

how are our families getting on with changing their energy habits?

There.

Draughtproofing is an up-chimney challenge for Sam and Louise.

It's not wide enough.

And what about that draughty porch?

Definitely not cold. Definitely not cold.

A result.

Sarah and Andrew are hoping thermal insulating film

will warm up their bedroom...

So you put your tape on around here

and then you put the plastic on the top.

..which you can buy from a DIY store for less than £10.

Every other window this morning,

cos it was a cold night, was soaking wet, pretty much.

But that one, the one with film on, had nothing on it.

Luke and Shamari are trying out heating themselves

with a £90 heated throw.

So this is the day after using the heated throw

and honestly, in my opinion,

that was one of the best night's sleeps I've ever had.

And the best thing is, we saved money

because we didn't have our heating out throughout the whole night.

And Solange and Dan are hoping their new heat pump drier will bring down

their hefty electricity bill.

That's our new drier.

So we've been able to use it for a few days.

We think that it's a 39% reduction in our electricity costs

for the next 12 months.

Kerching!

After the break, my money-saving mission continues

as I find out how you can get your hands on big bucks

to improve your home.

Where you can get up to £7,500. That's brilliant.

I meet a man who's making money on his energy.

Got no gas bills whatsoever.

We've in effect got no electricity bills either.

We're like a zero bill household.

Oh, that's the dream, isn't it?

And at the end of their ten days,

we'll reveal how our families got on with their bill-busting challenge.

Kind of like halved the bills. Halved the bills, yeah.

Which is.... That's a trip to Spain!

With energy prices high, keeping cosy this winter could be costly.

So I'm on a mission to discover how you can heat your home for less.

I've been meeting the experts to uncover

the smartest and savviest ways to save.

I can save £75.

That's an outfit, for going out.

And inspired by their advice,

I've been getting my home winter-ready

and I've not been doing it alone.

Bit at the end!

We're still in recovery from the German shock method.

We've looked at how state-of-the-art new-builds can cost next to nothing

to heat, but that's not the reality for many of us.

In the UK, we have more old houses than the rest of Europe,

with nearly 80% of our homes built before the '80s.

But with the right upgrades, can we cut down

the cost of heating our historic homes?

The owners of THIS house won't be worrying about

energy bills this winter. Oh, no.

Because they've been on a mission

to retrofit their old Victorian terrace.

There's bound to be some money-saving tips in here.

I'm going in.

DOORBELL RINGS

Hi, you must be John. Lovely to meet you.

I am. Welcome to the zero carbon house.

I knew it was yours just by the look of it.

JOHN CHUCKLES

The old part of John's house dates back to 1840

but, walking through the door, it's not what you'd expect.

I feel like I'm in a beehive.

Well, yes. This the airlock, like a space capsule.

Before you come in, we close the first door

and then we open the second door, so do come through.

In we go.

Inside, the house may look traditional

but John's methods are state-of-the-art.

John, I'm really excited to be in your home

because this is the first-ever zero carbon retrofit house

in the UK. It is, absolutely.

And we wanted just to try and inspire people that we can do this

with our unglamorous, existing buildings.

John is an architect

and made these radical renovations to his own home,

doubling it in size.

But it now uses a lot less energy.

Most houses are just like leaky sieves.

All the heat just goes out again.

The secret of this house is, we've trapped the heat

and we're keeping it in the house.

The older, sort of 1840 bit of the house used, to keep it simple,

57 units of energy per year.

The new house, double the size and a bit taller,

is using 1.7 units of energy. Wow.

That's a mammoth 95% saving on energy usage,

slashing his bills from before.

So how has he done it?

Er, the roofs are insulated with this chewed-up material here.

It's like the stuffing of a down jacket, if you like. Ooh, yeah.

It–it's actually just cellulose from recycled paper. Oh, wow.

But it's an upcycled material.

In fact, John's house now has 16 times more insulation

than it did before.

His windows are now triple-glazed

and he's fitted skylights which produce five times more light

than an average vertical window, whilst leaking less heat.

Go into the garden, Denise.

As for generating energy,

he's got a savvy system for that too.

With solar panels on the roof,

his house generates its own electricity all year round

and he sells his energy back to the grid. Kerching!

So I guess the big question is, do you get energy bills?

We took out the gas meter.

So the only energy bills we've got are electricity.

But in fact, with the electricity,

we're generating more electricity than we use,

so we've in effect got no electricity bills either.

We're like a zero bill household in terms of heating bills.

Oh, that's the dream, isn't it?

John hasn't stopped with his own home.

He's now on a mission to help others to join

the retrofitting revolution.

He's already inspiring people by running a community group

and the local council recently started

a scheme funding retrofits for social housing.

So far, more than 550 homes have made energy-saving upgrades

with some tenants saving around £50 a month on their energy bills.

There's a whole movement developing, which is so exciting.

So rather than this just being a one-off zero carbon house,

we hope that whole neighbourhoods across the UK

can make this happen at scale.

Well, I'm definitely inspired.

But how do you find out

which upgrades would be best for your home?

Remember earlier I checked my house efficiency rating

on the government website?

Well, it also gives you a whole range of suggestions

on how to improve it.

Let's see what it says.

Right. Internal and external wall insulation.

This is where it said it was very poor.

It's saying to do that it's gonna cost me

between £4,000 to £14,000.

But then I'd get a yearly saving of £364.

Wind turbine.

Solar panels.

This is saying roughly between £9,000 and £14,000.

The yearly saving of £253.

I mean it's a lot of money to spend, isn't it?

I mean, is it worth it? I don't know.

Recommendations on the government website range from

smaller, cheaper improvements that cost a few quid

to much bigger investments.

And it's also part of big plans to tackle climate change

and achieve net zero by 2050.

So is there support out there to help us

to afford these green upgrades?

Emmanuel, how on earth are people being able to afford

to make their houses energy efficient?

Because it's so expensive.

Even in my home, I had a quote for solar panels

and I was like, "Whoa. I'm not spending that."

It can be really expensive

and we're hoping that, as time goes on,

the technology comes in and it can become cheaper.

But there are grants available.

The main grant that's out there is the Home Upgrade Grant

called HUG for short.

And that's basically available to help you upgrade your home.

You can apply for it on the government website, so .GOV.

There's also the boiler upgrade scheme.

This scheme is available to help you to get

a more energy-efficient boiler to help with heating...heating pumps

and systems and so forth.

If you're in Scotland,

we have the Home Energy Scotland grant and loan scheme,

where you can get up to £7,500 to help you

when it comes to being more energy-efficient

and making improvements in your home, which is fantastic, right?

That's brilliant.

More than I'd expect, actually.

So, yeah. We need to move to Scotland. We do!

There are calls for all new properties

to be built without gas boilers by the end of the decade.

And the new kid on the block is the heat pump.

They're growing in popularity

and they're around three times more efficient

than a gas boiler.

Right now, electricity is more expensive than gas

so they work out similar in cost to run.

But they could be a smart move for the long term.

So we've figured out how to future-proof our homes.

We've unlocked all the ways to slash our heating bills

in the here and now

and, in ten days, our families have become energy warriors.

So what have been their biggest light bulb moments?

When we put that film on the windows,

it was like a eureka moment.

We're gonna do the whole house cos it made a difference.

Like, I might even like not wear a jumper now.

We definitely feel more empowered.

Yeah, and I just think we're more mindful, in general.

And it turns out smart meters aren't so scary after all.

It's not just that flashy box in the hallway

that has pound signs on it. Yeah.

So now we know that what those numbers stack up to be.

They're all on track to make serious savings

if they keep this up.

Because we've done all the changes,

we've kind of like halved the bills.

We're looking at about £300 a year, erm, savings.

It could even get better

as we put more film on and block up more draughts,

which is... That's a trip to Spain!

Shamari and Luke's smart switch is great news

for their annual energy bill.

Well, I was shocked because you know,

we saved more or less £100

just by swapping from a pay-as-you-go meter

to a direct debit smart meter.

So, that's amazing news for us.

For Louise and Sam, lower thermostat and radiator settings

are here to stay.

We feel just as warm as we did before

and we've learned that that could save us,

you know, £450 a year at least.

Um, and that's... That's huge.

But it's the Timms family who have had the biggest win.

Our old, vented drier was costing us £1.85 a load on average,

whereas the new heat pump drier

we've worked out is gonna cost us 51p a load.

So that's a saving of £1,467 a year, which is just unbelievable.

Hundreds of pounds of savings - that's what we like to see.

So, there you have it.

My quest to help us all reduce our energy bills is complete.

I've been in new houses,

I've been in old houses.

I've got to grips with boilers, thermostats and energy suppliers.

And what have I learned?

There are things you can do right now

to bring down your energy bill this winter. Good luck.

And if, after all that, you're still struggling to pay your bills,

the best thing to do is speak to your energy provider.

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