With people mindful of their energy bills and wanting to save money as the mercury drops, a lot of tips, conventional wisdom and myths tend to be spread alongside vital advice. 

The best way to save money on your bills is by consulting a professional to see if they can install a more efficient boiler or whether your insulation and heating system could help keep more heat in your home.

However, one particular piece of advice that is often stated as fact is that it is better to leave the boiler on all day at a low temperature and let it steadily warm the house rather than turn it on whenever it is needed.

There is a logic to this; much like a car engine, a boiler uses the most energy when it is turned on and heats up the central heating system quickly. However, in practice and in all but the most thermally efficient homes in the country, it will quickly do more harm than good.

The reason for this is that so much heat is lost through poor insulation, so your boiler would be burning far more gas or using more electricity than you may think to try and keep it at this low temperature, making many people’s heating bills considerably worse.

Generally, if you are using a smart thermometer or turning the heating off when the house is warmed up, you will be using far less energy overall, which in combination with efficient sources of heat and improved draught-proofing can save you far more money in the long run.

As well as this, heating the person rather than the home can also work a lot of the time, such as wearing additional layers and wrapping up warm whenever you can.