After a series of September and October heatwaves, many people switched on their heating this week after temperatures plummeted.
Strong winds and heavy rain due to Storm Babet are also likely making homeowners feel cold.
However, a heating expert has warned that while it may be tempting to turn your thermostat up when temperatures drop, it may not make much of a difference.
Dominic Lees-Bell, a heating expert at Only Radiators has explained why turning up your thermostat when it’s cold won’t make your home hotter.
He explained: “Most people are still in a Victorian mindset and, during cold weather, they crank up the heat.
“And while that is a perfectly reasonable course of action, it’s not what your thermostat does.
“Your thermostat is, instead, a limiter, not an accelerator. A minimum and a maximum temperature limiter rolled into one.
“If you’re cold and you turn your thermostat up to 30C in an attempt to make your home hotter.
“You’re essentially saying to your boiler, ‘you couldn’t reach 20C, so give 30C a try’ with the rate of heating staying the same.
“It’s like someone telling you to run 20 miles. Yet when you flop at 10 miles they instead move the finish line to 30 miles away instead.”
Instead, homeowners should be patient and allow their central heating to do its job.
Each degree homeowners increase their thermostats could actually be costing them an extra 10 percent on heating bills a year.
Dominic added: “As we go into another winter with the cost of living crisis still predominant, many of us will feel the effect of the increase in energy prices.
“Although there’s no hefty solution, maintaining the thermostat at a regular temperature can certainly help cut down on some costs.”