Heating use cut over cost fears

[dutchman]

Two-thirds of people have cut down on heating their home this winter because they are concerned about the cost, a survey shows.

Around 69% of people said they had reduced their energy usage this winter, while 37% claimed they had occasionally gone without any heating at all, according to price comparison website uSwitch.com.

A further 12% of people said they regularly went without heating in order to keep their bills down.

One in five people said their home was colder than they would have liked because of their fears over the cost of heating it, while 78% said they wore more layers than usual and 27% of people limited themselves to using only one or two rooms in their home.

But 12% of people thought their cutbacks had affected their quality of life or health, and despite rationing their energy usage 18% were still worried about the size of their next fuel bill.

:: Opinion Panel questioned 4,734 people during March.