With the cold weather still biting and the cost of living crisis having a huge impact on households across the UK, many of us are looking for ways to keep warm without racking up the heating bill, and being more mindful of our energy consumption.
Brits have been turning to air fryers over gas ovens and heated throws over the thermostat, while Oodies or their cheaper alternatives were found under pretty much every Christmas tree in the country back in December.
However, the one thing I’ve found is that, while I’m concentrating on just keeping the lounge warm, for example by popping the Aldi heated airer on for an hour to simultaneously dry clothes and heat the room - when I head up to bed, it’s absolutely freezing getting under the covers, having neglected to think about a way to pre-heat it.
Hot water bottles are great, but I’ve often found they don’t heat up the entire bed, so I decided to give this Silentnight Electric Blanket a go after spotting it in the Aldi Specialbuys for less than £25.
The budget retailer recently revealed a set of energy-efficient essentials such as electric underblankets, draft excluders and electric heaters, as well as the long-awaited return of the popular heated airer. And among them, three different sizes of electric blanket from Silentnight in single, double and king size.
Priced at £24.99, the energy-saving blanket comes with a convenient single control, three different heat settings and an overheat protection safety feature, too. Aldi said it’s ‘perfect for heat seekers and those who like to stay warm’, which, as someone who feels the cold and is generally a bit nesh, it sounded ideal.
The electric blanket was really easy to set up, and makes for a great individual alternative to heating the entire home. Taking it out of the bag, I stripped my bed and attached the blanket to the top of the mattress, ensuring the elasticated straps went all the way underneath.
I made sure the blanket was flat with no crinkles before plugging it in and making sure the cable was a comfortable length. I then put my sheet over the top of the blanket, adding my usual pillows and duvet on top. The blanket should always be covered - though it should be said that for some of these photos, mine isn’t, just for illustrative purposes.
Once my bed was reassembled, I tried the blanket out for size. The Silentnight device is as wide as my small double bed, but not quite as long, so you might want to position it closer to the top or bottom of the bed - although I found the heat radiates pretty well either way.
I’m the kind of person that drinks my cup of tea straight away and doesn’t add any cold water to their bath, so naturally, I set the heat setting to the highest of three. I love being warm and cosy, and if it was too warm, I could always turn it down.
It takes about 20 minutes for the blanket to heat up to a comfortable temperature. Of course, you only need it on for an hour or so before bed, so you might want to turn it on approximately 90 minutes before you plan on going to sleep to get the best results from it.
According to The Mirror, Silentnight experts have previously advised that electric blankets cost as little as just 1p per night to run. According to research by the energy comparison site Uswitch, an average electric blanket uses around 100 watts of energy in the warming stage for a double-sized bed.
This then reduces to around 25 watts when it is turned down to the sleep setting, it will go down even further if you turn off the blanket completely. Under the current energy price guarantee, the cost of one kWh of electricity averages around 34.0p/kWh (pence per kilowatt hour) for those on a standard variable tariff.
As such, a standard electric blanket uses around 100W and under the current guarantee, would cost between 2p and 4p to run at full power for an hour.
To get this figure you need to convert the above figure of 100w from watts to kilowatts which is 0.1kW. This means if you were to leave the blanket on for two hours before going to bed, it would cost between 4p and 8p.
However, it must be noted that this is just an estimation as different electric blankets do have different energy settings, and some can cost more to run than others. For example, Aldi’s is only 70w, so would use less electricity than the above figure.
When bedtime came, it was absolute bliss climbing into my warm and snuggly bed, making sure to turn the blanket off before going to sleep. The whole bed felt really toasty, and I found I fell asleep much quicker, and had a more restful night as a result, too.
Other Aldi shoppers have left glowing reviews on the electric blanket, too, with one commenting: “Never considered electric blanket until this 2023 situation...after 30min the bed is warm. Inexpensive and seems well made.”
Another added: “My hubby is always feeling the cold . This blanket heats up very quickly easy to put on your bed great that you can control the heat.”
While a third wrote: “Really pleased with the blanket. In these times of rapidly rising fuel prices with the heating turned down a few degrees it’s nice to be able to get into a warm bed.”
Naturally, the Silentnight electric blanket quickly sold out on the Aldi website, but we have found it available elsewhere online, however, it costs slightly more. At Argos, the money-saving gadget comes in at £50, while at Dreams, it's £45. The cheapest price we’ve currently found the Silentnight blanket has been on Amazon, where you can pick it up for £40.
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