How to Reduce Your Gas Bill UK
Gas heating accounts for the largest portion of most UK energy bills. Here are the most effective ways to cut your gas usage and save money without making yourself cold.
In this guide
1. Turn down your thermostat
This is the single most effective way to reduce your gas bill. Turning your thermostat down by just 1°C can save around £100 a year on your heating costs without making a noticeable difference to how comfortable your home feels.
The recommended comfortable room temperature is 18-21°C. Many households have their thermostat set higher than this — often without realising it.
Quick win: Turn your thermostat down by 1°C today. Most people can’t tell the difference between 21°C and 20°C — but your gas bill can. That’s around £100 saved per year from a single adjustment.
2. Use your boiler timer properly
There’s no need to heat your home all day if nobody is in it. Using your boiler’s timer to only heat your home when you need it can save significant amounts of gas.
Set your heating to come on 30 minutes before you wake up and turn off 30 minutes before you leave the house. Set it to come on again 30 minutes before you get home in the evening.
Common myth: Many people believe it’s cheaper to keep heating on low all day rather than turning it on and off. This is not true — it’s almost always cheaper to only heat your home when you need it.
3. Reduce your hot water usage
Hot water heating accounts for a significant portion of your gas usage. Small changes to your hot water habits can add up to meaningful savings:
🚿 Shorter showers — cutting your shower from 10 minutes to 5 minutes saves around £70 a year per person
🌡️ Lower your boiler flow temperature — reducing your boiler’s hot water flow temperature from 80°C to 60°C can improve efficiency by up to 10%
🚰 Fix dripping hot taps — a dripping hot tap can waste enough hot water to fill a bath every week
🧺 Wash clothes at 30°C — most modern detergents work just as well at lower temperatures
🍽️ Only run the dishwasher when full — and use the eco mode where available
4. Improve your insulation
Good insulation is one of the most effective long-term ways to reduce your gas bill. If your home loses heat quickly through the roof, walls or floor your boiler has to work harder and use more gas to maintain a comfortable temperature.
🏠 Loft insulation — saves up to £150/yr. One of the cheapest and most effective improvements. May be available free through government schemes.
🧱 Cavity wall insulation — saves up to £300/yr for a semi-detached house. Check if your walls are suitable.
🪟 Double glazing — saves around £110/yr compared to single glazing. Higher upfront cost but long-term saving.
🏚️ Floor insulation — saves around £70/yr. Particularly effective in older homes with suspended timber floors.
Free insulation: You may be eligible for free or subsidised insulation through the government’s ECO4 scheme. Check your eligibility at gov.uk — households on certain benefits or with a low EPC rating may qualify.
5. Draught proof your home
Draughts let cold air in and warm air out — making your boiler work harder to maintain your desired temperature. Sealing draughts is cheap, quick and can save around £60 a year.
🚪 Doors — fit draught excluders to external doors and letterboxes
🪟 Windows — seal gaps around window frames with self-adhesive foam strips
🔌 Electrical sockets — fit foam inserts behind plug sockets on external walls
🏠 Loft hatch — fit draught-proofing strips around the loft hatch frame
🛁 Pipework — seal gaps around pipes where they pass through walls
6. Service your boiler regularly
An inefficient boiler uses more gas to produce the same amount of heat. Having your boiler serviced annually keeps it running at peak efficiency and can reduce your gas consumption by up to 10%.
A boiler service typically costs £60-120 and could save you far more than that over the course of a year through improved efficiency.
If your boiler is more than 15 years old it may be worth replacing with a modern A-rated condensing boiler which can be up to 90% efficient compared to older boilers running at 60-70%.
7. Use thermostatic radiator valves
Thermostatic radiator valves (TRVs) let you control the temperature in individual rooms rather than heating your whole house to the same temperature. You can turn down or off the heating in rooms you don’t use much — like spare bedrooms — while keeping the rest of the house comfortable.
Smart TRVs go a step further — they can be controlled via an app and programmed to different temperatures at different times of day in each room. Brands like Tado and Hive offer smart heating systems that can save up to 31% on your heating bills.
8. Switch to a cheaper gas tariff
All of the tips above help you use less gas — but you can also reduce your gas bill by paying less per unit for the gas you do use. If you haven’t switched energy supplier recently you could be on an expensive standard variable tariff paying well above the cheapest available rate.
Switching to a cheaper gas tariff takes about 10 minutes and could save you up to £300 a year alongside the usage reduction tips above.
Are you overpaying for gas?
Compare gas and electricity deals for your postcode. Free, no obligation, takes 2 minutes.
Compare energy deals →Potential annual gas bill savings:
🌡️ Turn down thermostat 1°C — up to £100
🏠 Loft insulation — up to £150
🧱 Cavity wall insulation — up to £300
🚿 Shorter showers — up to £70 per person
🪟 Draught proofing — up to £60
⚡ Switch to cheaper tariff — up to £300
Related guides
How to reduce your energy bills UK 2026 → What is a standing charge? → How to switch energy supplier UK 2026 →Reduce your gas bill further by switching
Compare gas and electricity deals for your postcode. Free, no obligation, takes 2 minutes.
Compare energy deals →Written by the FastSwitch team · Last updated April 2026
FastSwitch is a free UK energy comparison service. We may earn a commission when you switch via our site — this never affects the deals or prices you see.
Leave a Reply