Martin Lewis has issued advice to those who work from home ahead of this week's cold snap. With temperatures in the minuses and icy conditions recently predicted by the Met Office for various parts of the country, people are being asked to turn their heating on despite the soaring price of energy bills.
On today's episode Good Morning Britain, Martin Lewis, who was presenting the show alongside Susanna Reid, answered questions from worried viewers who are battling against the cost of living crisis. Whilst answering one question from a viewer named Paula, Martin, 50, informed those watching of an unusual heating device which could help you keep warm whilst working from home.
Putting a question to her co-presenter, Susanna said to Martin: "You know already that it's getting colder and this very cold snap is on the horizon. The numbers behind Alex [Beresford] have gone into the minuses so Paula asks a really significant, pertinent question,"
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Reading out Paula's question, Susanna, 51, said: "'I'm working from home, I'm worried about having the heating on all day. I have health conditions affected by the cold. Will it be cheaper to buy electric heaters and blankets than putting the heating on?'"
Martin replied: "Depending on the type of heater you buy, yes, quite possibly. In fact, earlier in the year, one of the most painful things I've asked my team to do is put together a guide called 'Heat the human, not the home' - which is not a piece of advice, I'm not telling you to do that. But if you're desperate and can't afford to put the heating on, then buying yourself - make sure it's electrically safe - an electric gilet is a very efficient way to heat the body.
"For example, they're 50W, roughly, and it's probably too complicated to say this but here's how to work out how much it costs you: a kWh is 1000w, so if [the electric gilet] is 50W, that's a twentieth of that. So, it's going to cost you around 1.5p an hour to have a heated gilet on, or you could have heated insoles or gloves.
"So, yes, you could buy an electric heater but then the heated air is going everywhere. But if you're buying something that's totally concentrated on heating you, then you're getting the most efficient use of it. Just make sure they're safe, you're not buying a cheap import that doesn't have a safety certificate.
"Electric blankets at night, a heated gilet, heated gloves, if you can't afford to heat your house. There can be problems for your house if you don't heat it, but if that's the situation you're in right now, that is a cheaper thing to do than putting your heating on. I'm not advocating it, but you may be in a position where it's the only thing you can afford."
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