Keeping the heating on for longer will add £70 to the average January gas bill.
Households keeping the heating on for longer during the cold snap will add £70 to the average January gas bill – a 52 per cent rise on last year, according to estimates.
Families will pay £1.9 billion in extra heating charges if the freezing weather continues for another week, with the average gas bill for the month reaching £227, according to Energyhelpline, a price comparison service.
With thousands cutting back on heating their homes rather than face a hefty bill, there were fears that winter deaths could multiply.
Mark Todd of Energyhelpline said: “Normal temperatures for January over the past 10 years have been about 5C. For every degree it drops outside it costs more to heat our homes, as the heat loss is greater. Wind chill can also increase this as the cold wind strips our homes of warmth just as it strips us of warmth when we go outside.”
He said householders could help to cut bills by maintaining a temperature of 18C in bedrooms at night, while living rooms during the day might need to be kept at 21C.
The weather provoked fears among thousands of A-level students that they could miss out on university places as exams were thrown into chaos. Though conditions eased in many areas, about 300 schools remained closed in the worst hit areas. More than a million pupils are due to take AS and A-levels in the next few weeks.
Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, urged head teachers to do everything possible to stay open. Isabel Nisbet, the acting chief executive of Ofqual, the exam regulator, said postponing the programme was not an option. In rural counties, many roads remained impassable.
With concerns remaining over “dangerously low” grit stocks, Theresa Villiers, the shadow transport secretary, accused ministers of making “inadequate preparations” for the cold snap. Several councils warned that salt levels were reaching critical levels.
Lord Adonis, the Transport Secretary, said that in the face of “the most prolonged spell of freezing conditions” since December 1981 “all main transport networks are operational”. But he told the Lords that “further measures are likely to be required over the next 48 hours to keep networks open”.
The National Grid issued its fourth gas shortage alert in a week yesterday and 100 factories had their gas cut off.
Temperatures were noticeably warmer than of late, at an average of 34F (1C) and the picture for the rest of the week was relatively stable, although more snow showers were forecast in some areas, with lows of 27F (-3C).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/consumertips/household-bills/
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