Lowering Your Thermostat by 1°C: A Practical First Test | EnergyBonusUK

Lowering Your Thermostat by 1°C: A Practical First Test

Home thermostat close-up supporting a 1°C reduction test
Editorial photo context: practical thermostat adjustment in a real home setting.

If your home is already reasonably insulated, lowering the thermostat by 1°C is often a useful no-cost step to test lower gas use over time.

The key point is not to chase a fixed outcome. It is to test comfort and routine first:

  1. 1. Lower by 1°C for one week.
  2. 2. Keep heating times unchanged.
  3. 3. Compare comfort and your daily gas-use pattern.

Why this can help in practice: heating demand is usually a major driver of winter gas consumption, so small control changes may influence total use — but results vary by household.

Trust-first caveat

This is not a guaranteed saving result. Outcomes depend on insulation quality, home size, weather, occupancy pattern, and heating schedule.

Illustrative yearly examples (rough, not guaranteed)

To give practical context, we use a source-linked anchor point: a UK analysis reported around £130/year for a typical 85m² home at the Oct 2022 price-cap context when lowering thermostat setting by 1°C.

Illustrative scale-only examples (not personal predictions):

  1. Typical 3-room flat: roughly lower than the 85m² anchor in many cases; a cautious illustrative band is around GBP 90-120/year under similar historical price conditions.
  2. Typical 4-room house: often equal to or above the 85m² anchor depending on heat loss and heating pattern; a cautious illustrative band is around GBP 140-180/year under similar historical price conditions.

These are rough orientation ranges only, not guaranteed outcomes. Use your own bills and meter trend to validate real impact.

Safe decision rule

Keep the lower setting only if rooms remain comfortable and healthy. If comfort drops too much, raise the setting slightly and reassess.

Source context: Energy Saving Trust guidance on heating controls and thermostat use (general advice basis):

https://energysavingtrust.org.uk/advice/thermostats-and-heating-controls/

Quantified anchor source: UCL analysis summary for the ~£130/year typical-home context (Oct 2022 price-cap basis):

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2022/dec/analysis-energy-bills-how-much-money-does-turning-down-thermostat-actually-save

Updated: 2026-04-04 · EnergyBonusUK Journal

Updated: 2026-04-04 · Editorial owner: WGuru Web Ops · Independent informational website (not operated by Octopus Energy).