Martin: Winter is coming
How to cut costs, stay warm, and get your house in order

60+ home energy savers, direct debit test, bill help, cut use for cash, slash boiler costs, heat the human & more

It's usually about this time most start to turn the central heating on. Though this year it may be later, both as thankfully temperatures aren't yet too cold, and as many will delay due to sky-high prices.

So that gives me time to compile a range of protective MoneySaving winter warmers to help get your house in order, including our new 60 home energy savers checklist, as well as our Heat the human guide. Enough hot air (if only), let's do it...

1. The story so far: energy prices are double last winter's. On 1 Oct, the new energy price guarantee launched. Originally planned to last two years, it'll now end in March.

- It increased prices by an average 27% compared to the pre-Oct rate.
- Substantially less than the 80% rise due under the price cap system.
- Substantially more (96%) than last winter's energy rates.

The guarantee works just like the past caps, only the price differs. There is NO TOTAL MAX that you pay for gas and electricity, instead it's unit rates and standing charges that are capped.

To help with the huge cost increase, in May an energy support payments package was put in place for Eng, Scot & Wales (for NI, see below)...

• All households who pay elec direct: £400. So £66 each month until March. See how to get the £400 electricity payment help.
• Benefits £650 (2nd payment due soon). Those on qualifying benefits incl pension credit between 26 Aug and 25 Sep are due £324. See 2nd payment help.
• Pensioners up to £600 boosted winter fuel payment. State pensioners usually get £100 to £300 winter fuel payment (age & benefits dependent). A flat one-off £300 has been added this year.
• Disabilities £150 payment's been paid. What to do if you didn't get it.
• Alternative fuel £100 for homes without gas. Heating oil, LPG, etc users get a £100 grant.
• Other funds. As well as the new schemes, for those on some benefits there's the £150 warm homes discount and the cold weather payment scheme (also for older people), or instead of that, a flat £50 payment in February for those in Scotland.
  

2. What happens in April when price guarantee ends? Nowt's been announced, but the default setting if nothing is changed is we return to the price cap system. The latest prediction from analysts Cornwall Insight (though it's very, very early days and likely to change) says we'd see rates rise 48%, taking the bill for someone on typical use (a meaningless figure just for illustration) from today's £2,500/yr to £3,700/yr.

3. Take our 2-min check to see if your direct debit's right. Enter your kWh usage from your bill into our 'Is your direct debit right?' calculator to find out what it should be roughly. If yours is too high and you're not in energy debt, or it is far too low, then politely call up and ask them to explain why. You have a right to a fair direct debit under Ofgem's rules. See how to challenge unfair direct debits.

New: The 60 home energy savers checklist Today, we're launching a brand new guide. The team have worked hard and brilliantly to put together a checklist of 60+ ways to save energy. It's a mix of hardcore savings such as changes to boiler, heating and appliance settings, mixed with some thrifty crowd-sourced tips. I've summarised 15 of them here to whet your appetite. a) Take the boiler challenge - cut gas bill by £100/yr. Many gas combi boilers' (the type most homes have) flow rates are set higher than necessary as default - this is the temperature of the water that circulates around this system. As it's too high, the boiler doesn't operate in its most efficient mode. It can cut gas bills by over 9% and you're unlikely to notice the change, as your hot water and room temp is unchanged (they just may take a little longer to heat up). Innovation charity Nesta has a Boiler challenge tool that shows you what to do. b) Is your fridge and freezer too cool? Fridges should be 5°C, freezers -18°C. If yours are lower, you're wasting energy. c) Fit a FREE water-saving shower head. Normally I discuss this in cutting water use, yet as we pay to heat much of our water, it impacts energy bills too. There are 900,000 water-savings freebies currently available, eg, a low-flow shower head (pushes air through too, so you feel little difference) can save up to £50 a year of hot water. Related: Can you slash your water bill with a meter? d) Take the one degree challenge... try dropping your thermostat temp. The World Health Organisation says 18 degrees is enough for healthy adults, slightly higher for the very young or old. Yet many have their thermostats set in the 20s. Test turning it down one degree or more, and adding extra layers of clothes, to see how it goes. While cutting from, say, 21 degrees to 20 degrees doesn't sound much, it may reduce your heating bill by 10%. As a 'way to think of it' concept (not science), imagine your house was already at 13 degrees, dropping what it's warmed to by 1 degree is a big chunk of that. PS: No need to turn up the temp when it's colder outside. The thermostat's job is to take you to the set temp, it just may take longer. e) Use tactical curtains. Remember, curtains block the sun, and the heat. So open them when there's daylight to let light and heat in, and close them at night to keep it in. PS: Line your curtains with cheap fleece to boost the impact. f) Don't be afraid to touch your knob. OK, the proper name is a radiator valve, but I couldn't resist. Make sure you control which rooms you heat, so you're not wasting cash overheating empty spaces. Go round the house and turn off radiators in rooms you don't want to heat. g) Do you mix cold in to stop your shower/bath being too hot? You can easily lower hot water temperatures on combi boilers, as it's oft set too high, so you need to mix it with cold water. Octopus Energy says about 55 degrees should be enough for most. You can also reduce the temperature on other boilers, but temps generally need to be set a little higher and it's more complicated. h) Not all energy-saving light bulbs are equal. LED lights use about half the energy of the bigger fluorescent spiral 'energy-saving bulbs'. See how energy efficient are my bulbs? i) A £15 hot water cylinder jacket can save £80/yr. If your hot water cylinder is uninsulated, it'll let the water cool down more quickly, so you're wasting money heating it up again. A cylinder jacket could reduce heat loss by up to 75%. j) Tumble dryers are one of the most expensive appliances, so minimise use, maximise load. You're typically paying up to £1 a load, so drying clothes on an airer or outside, to shorten or even avoid the tumble dryer completely, can heavily cut costs. k) Microwaves are cheaper than the oven for smaller dishes. Microwaves only heat the food, not the air around it. So if you're cooking a single jacket potato, the microwave is up to 80% cheaper. Yet for a full family roast dinner all cooked at once, stick to the oven. l) Turn draught detective. Draught-proofing is one of the cheapest and most effective ways to save energy. Walk round your house looking for window and door draughts. See how to stop the gaps. m) Check your TV is on a low energy setting. On average we spend around 4 hours a day watching TV, so see TV and Sky settings that can reduce energy use. n) Don't drain the hot water out of the bath too quick. You've paid to heat it, so let it sit for a bit. As it cools, the heat energy warms the house, rather than pulling the plug so it heats the drains. o) Put reflective panels behind radiators. These sheets of reflective material can be placed behind radiators on external walls, so heat doesn't escape (tin foil works too, but not as well). ---------------------- There's far more in our Energy savings checklist. If you've home energy saving questions or suggestions, do give us your feedback, though please first check the answers aren't in the guide.

4. Octopus, Ovo, BG, E.on & EDF customers can earn up to £100 by timing energy use this winter. Those on Eco 7, Eco 10 and other time-of-use tariffs have long had cheaper rates for overnight electricity use. Everyone else pays the same regardless of whenever you use energy.

Now the National Grid is setting up schemes so those on smart meters can be paid to use less energy at peak times (4-7pm). Octopus is up and running, BG, E.on & EDF have announced they will do this too. Ovo has its own scheme separate to the National Grid one. Full info in our Power down round-up.

5. Even if you're not on a time-of-use tariff, why not do easy energy decreases between 4pm and 7pm? The Govt should be saying this, but so far it's not doing its own info campaign. This winter there's an outside risk of an energy security issue and blackouts - especially during peak 4pm to 7pm.

So where it's no hassle to do, why not aim to minimise leccy use? Eg, turn on big appliances in the morning or later evening (though be careful, leaving appliances such as tumble dryers on while you sleep is a fire risk). Hopefully if many do this, we'll all gain.

6. Can't afford to heat your home? Find a warm space. Warm spaces are places, offered by libraries, local councils and others, where people are welcome to go to spend time and stay warm.

It's a bittersweet state of affairs - sad it's needed, great to know help's out there. It may just mean a few extra hours with the heating off that makes things affordable. See if you, or perhaps a nearby elderly neighbour, can find a warm space near you.

PS: Want to help set up a warm space? I recently commissioned a charity to produce this downloadable free Warm spaces (warm banks) best practice guide for those who want to help.

7. You can't switch tariff to save, but may be able to up your service. There are no fixed (or other) deals out there that are significantly cheaper than the energy price guarantee, which the huge majority of Eng, Scot & Wales are on.

Yet if your firm is making you white hot... with anger over its service, then you could still switch elsewhere to improve the service. Of the biggies, EDF & Ovo let you switch easily online, but many others will need calling up as they aren't actively encouraging switchers.

8. On an old school prepayment meter and not received or redeemed your £66/mth voucher? You have 3 months from issue to redeem it. Even if the voucher wrongly says it, you DON'T need photo ID to use it (a household bill valid in the last 12 months should do). 100,000s of October's vouchers have yet to be redeemed - you've 3 months to do it. For help, including what to do if you've not been sent it or it's refused, see Prepay voucher redemption help.

9. Is it better to leave your heating on low all day or only turn it on when needed? Plus 19 other mythbusters. We answer this and other energy saving conundrums in our 20 energy mythbusters guide.

10. Ends 30 Nov. 300,000 haven't claimed their £150 council tax cost of living rebate. If you're in council tax bands A to D, and don't pay by direct debit, you need to claim the payment - 100,000s still haven't, and you've only got until 30 November to contact your local council to make a claim. See How to claim your council tax rebate.

11. The Northern Ireland energy price guarantee has started, but I doubt the £400 will be paid this year. It started on 1 Nov and runs until the end of March. NI households get a unit rate discount of usually 19.9p/kWh for electricity and 4.8p/kWh for gas. This includes a little extra than initially announced to backdate the support from October. If you prepay, you may need to top up before the discount is applied.

The Govt has said NI customers will get the same £400 winter electricity help payments as those elsewhere are already getting, but we don't know how or when yet. See our Northern Ireland energy guide for help & updates.

How to calculate the energy cost of an appliance So a 100W (a tenth of a kW) appliance on for two hours is a maximum 3.4p an hour x 2 = 6.8p The reason I say 'is a maximum' is many appliances, especially heating appliances, don't run at full whack the whole time. Yet this is a good rough rule of thumb to get a general idea. How much does a meter-read energy unit cost? For elec, the meter records in kilowatt hours (kWh), which is what suppliers use to bill you. Yet for gas, the meter usually records in cubic metres, so a conversion's needed, yet roughly...

12. Got prepay meters? You may be able to use the Govt £66/mth help on gas too. The payment is officially made off electricity bills, which can be a struggle if it's gas where you're short. All firms barring Brit Gas let you do it if you've an old school prepayment meter. With smart prepay, some firms allow you to use it for gas too, and we're calling for others to do the same. See Can I use my £66 towards my gas? help.

13. Free home fire safety check. There are around 30,000 house fires and almost 300 fire-related deaths in Britain each year - often related to heating and electricals. This free fire safety check could reduce the risk of a fire. Many fire brigades also offer free in-person fire checks to the most vulnerable. Contact your local fire and rescue service for criteria and to book.

14. Help if you're struggling to pay bills. First talk to your energy firm -  be polite and straight - and make sure you tell it if you're vulnerable. We list a host of grants and help in our What to do if you're struggling to pay energy bills guide. If you need more bespoke help, some key charities can help...

- National Energy Action (Eng & Wal) gives benefits advice, and helps with bills, debt and hardship fund applications. These links are for similar help in N Ireland and Scotland.

- Citizens Advice (Eng, Scot and Wales) and StepChange (UK-wide) can give wider debt and energy help. Plus Age UK offers help for older people, and Scope for disabled people in England and Wales.