It may be getting colder, but with high energy bills at the forefront of our minds, households are staying away from putting the heating on and instead reaching for the hot water bottle or electric blanket to keep warm. But in a bid to slash costs wherever possible, we compare which one is cheaper – hot water bottle or electric blanket?

With energy bills over double what they were this time last year, keeping energy costs low is a no-brainer, and one of the biggest ways to do it is to refrain from putting the heating on as often as you might like.

So we put hot water bottle vs electric blanket to the test to see which is cheaper to keep warm.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE A HOT WATER BOTTLE?

The cost of using a hot water bottle relies on how much it costs to run a kettle.

According to Uswitch, it costs 1.56p to boil 300ml of water (a large mug full) and 7.8p to boil a full kettle of water (1.5L).

The actual costs will vary depending on what kettle you’re using and your electricity tariff.

The average hot water bottle is 2L in size, but you shouldn’t fill it to full capacity for safety reasons.

So if you were to fill the hot water bottle with 1.5L of hot water, that would cost 7.8p to boil that water.

Let’s assume you used a hot water bottle twice a day, then it will cost around 15.6p per day and around £1.09 per week.

According to Hugo Energy App, a hot water bottle stays warm for three hours if you put a cover on it.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

It’s important to use your hot water bottle safely. Here are some top tips from thehotwaterbottleshop.com.

• Do not pour boiling water into your hot water bottle as it can damage the rubber; instead, leave it to cool a little and put in ‘hot’ water.
• Always take the air out of the bottle when filling it up to avoid it bursting.
• You should use your hot water bottle to warm up your bed for around 20 minutes and not ‘hug’ it.
• Don’t apply too much pressor siture  on a hot water bottle.

HOW MUCH DOES IT COST TO USE AN ELECTRIC BLANKET?

Consumer savings expert and co-founder of Raisin UK, Kevin Mountford told our sister site Goodto.com: “If you are using your electric blanket (100W) for an average time of two hours every day during the week, over a week you would be using 1.4kWh. That equates to 39.2p a week, and over a year would cost you £20.38.”

Turning it down by just 1°C can actually save you £80 a year, making up for the heated blanket already.”

But every electric blanket will vary in cost depending on how powerful it is- they can range from 50 watts to 300 watts.

Rather than putting the full heating on around the house, an electric blanket is a great, money-saving substitute to keep you warm at night.

Octopus Energy says electric blankets cost around £40, but they are worth the investment in the long run as you can save around £300 per year, over putting the heating on overnight.

They found heating a full home can cost £4 a day, whereas an energy-efficient electric blanket can warm you up for just 2p to 4p an hour.

Before you purchase an electric blanket, look out for the following:

Make sure it has the UK safety standard mark (the kitemark) so you know it’s safe to use.
Check if it is energy efficient. They might cost more to purchase but will cost less to run.
See how powerful it is- the more powerful, the more it will cost. But it should also suit your needs.

SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Here are some safety precautions you should follow from The London Fire Brigade to stay safe whilst using an electric blanket.

• You should store your electric blanket in a particular way- either rolled up, flat or loosely folded to prevent internal wire damage.
• Don’t buy a second-hand electric blanket.
• Check for wear and tear on a regular basis and replace it at least every 10 years.
• If the blanket gets wet, never switch it on to dry it.
• Never use an electric blanket if you have an airflow pressure relief mattress, or use emollient creams. You can ask for a non-flammable alternative.

THE VERDICT

Overall, it is cheaper to use a hot water bottle than an electric blanket.

It costs 7.8p every time you boil the kettle to fill a hot water bottle with 1.5L, which can last up to three hours. It costs 2p to 4p per hour to keep the electric blanket on.

If you do opt for an electric blanket, there are ways of cutting costs. For example, do not leave it on all night and switch it off from the mains once you’re done with it. It’s also worth picking an an energy-efficient one.

But whichever you opt for, remember they both come with big safety warnings to follow – the major one being to never use a hot water bottle and an electric blanket together.

A landlord and property owner who failed to repair a serious water leak in a private rented property in Lewisham have been fined £4,000 after their tenants’ bathroom ceiling collapsed.

After the tenants got in contact with Lewisham Council in November 2021 to complain about the leak from the bathroom ceiling, housing officers served the landlord and property manager with a formal notice requiring them to take action.

Two weeks later, despite several warnings from the Council, no repairs had been carried out to address the leak, resulting in the collapse of the bathroom ceiling.

The collapse made it impossible for the tenants to enter the bathroom and also cut off power to the lights in the flat, forcing them to be moved into temporary accommodation.

The landlord, Felicia Ifeobikwu, and property owner, Michael Okoroafor, appeared at Bromley Magistrates’ Court last month. The pair pleaded guilty to not complying with the original repair notice and a £4,067.83 fine was issued.

Cllr Sophie Davis, Cabinet Member for Housing Management and Homelessness, said:

“We are committed to supporting private renters in Lewisham and taking action against landlords who break the law. Everybody has a right to good-quality, safe housing and we will continue working to improve standards in the private-rented sector.”

Councillor Sophie Davis, cabinet member for housing management and homelessness, said: “We are committed to supporting private renters in Lewisham and taking action against landlords who break the law.

“Everybody has a right to good-quality, safe housing and we will continue working to improve standards in the private-rented sector.”

s winter and in the winters to come,” she said.

Households could save around £310 a year through an expanded scheme to insulate Britain’s draughtiest homes, the government has said.

It will spend £1bn from next spring on grants for homes that have low energy efficiency ratings and are in lower council tax bands.

Households will need to contact their energy supplier or council to see if they are participating, it said.

But critics questioned why the funding would not be available over winter.

The Department for Business, Energy, Industry and Skills (BEIS) said households who currently did not benefit from any other government support would be able to upgrade their homes under the ECO+ scheme.

The grants will help households to fund low-cost measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation, with the average cost per household expected to be £1,500.

A new £18m public information campaign will also offer advice on how to reduce energy use in the home, “without sacrificing comfort”, BEIS said.

Some of the government’s tips include:

Mr Shapps said the ECO+ scheme would “enable thousands more to insulate their homes, protecting the pounds in their pockets and creating jobs across the country”.

Without insulation, indoor temperatures are difficult to maintain, and homes can lose up to 45% of their heat, according to the Energy Savings Trust.

In a typical three-bedroomed semi-detached house in the UK, the Energy Savings Trust estimates that installing draught proofing measures plus cavity wall and loft insulation could save £555 on an average annual energy bill.

“We’ve spent around £6.6bn on improving millions of homes so far,” Mr Shapps told the BBC. “This is actually a scheme for people who have been left out thus far because their homes haven’t qualified.”

But shadow business secretary Jonathan Reynolds told the BBC the measures were “so late when we should have been doing so much more for so many years previously”.

He also accused the government of a lack of ambition when it came to plans to end the country’s dependency on fossil fuels.

An already existing ECO scheme is targeted at people in social housing, on low incomes or who are fuel poor.

However, under the expanded scheme, people whose homes have an energy efficiency rating of D or below can get help, whether they are in private, rented or social housing. Energy efficiency ratings run from A-G, with A being the best and G the worst.

Applicants will have to live in properties covered by council tax bands A to D, according to reports.

If you are eligible for support, your energy firm will do a survey and pay for the improvements.

Despite targeting middle earners, the government says about a fifth of the new £1bn of funding will be reserved for the most vulnerable households.

Fuel poverty campaigners welcomed the measures but said more needed to be done to help those most in need.

Adam Scorer, chief executive of National Energy Action, said the “scheme is not designed to reach the most vulnerable, it’s designed to reach people who haven’t been able to benefit from previous schemes”.

“We believe government focus should be on the worst first, helping people in the greatest risk, the greatest jeopardy, more of this money should be going to help them.”

The UK is often described as having some of the oldest and least energy efficient housing in Europe.

Two years ago, BBC research found 12 million UK homes were rated D or below on their Energy Performance Certificates, which means they do not meet long-term energy efficiency targets.

Currently 46% of homes have an energy efficiency rating of C or above, up from 13% in 2010, according to BEIS.

In his Autumn Statement, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced a new target, to reduce energy demand by 15% by 2030.

BEIS said this target would be backed by an additional £6bn investment after 2025.

Mr Hunt said the ECO+ scheme would help “hundreds of thousands of people” to improve the insulation of their homes.

Greenpeace UK energy campaigner Georgia Whitaker said nearly seven million homes were suffering fuel poverty, while 19 million homes in England and Wales are badly insulated.

“This is a drop in the ocean compared to what people actually need to stay warm and well this winter and in the winters to come,” she said.