Alice Beer was back on This Morning with some more money-saving tips amid the cost of living prices. The consumer journalist appeared on Monday's edition (October 10) of the ITV show which was, as ever, being hosted by Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield.
She appeared live via video link from her home in Wiltshire in a bid to help viewers reduce their heating bills this winter as prices are set to spiral. It comes after a former Sainsbury’s boss claimed that cost of living challenges are more severe than at any time since the 1970s, as he criticised the government’s policy on energy bills.
Speaking on Sky News, Justin King argued against a blanket reduction in fuel costs and said that a means-tested system could provide greater support to those in need. It comes after Asda announced it would offer cheap meals in its cafes to help over-60s struggling with spiraling living costs.
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It came a few days after a surge in energy prices, which saw the average household’s annual bills rise by almost £600. According to research from Age UK, 2.8 million pensioners will not be able to properly heat their homes this winter despite the energy price cap being frozen.
Struggling households are resorting to a number of clever hacks in order to keep their families warm and fed in the wake of the cost of living crisis, with one mum sharing her spreadsheet hack to feed her family of five and others rushing to buy a £12 item that cuts heating costs.
Appearing on This Morning, Alice explained tips on how to save energy starting with the thermostats in the house. "There are three thermostatic controls that you should have a look at," the consumer journalist told the show's hosts and viewers. "The first one you need to look at is the thermostat that's usually in your hall.
"Now a lot of people won't have their heating on at the moment; the majority of people, according to British Gas, switch their heating on in the week beginning October 24. That's about half term week when we put our heating on. Now that thermostat is usually in the hall.
"One in five have got that set at 22 degrees - that's Lanzarote temperatures. What it should be set at is somewhere around 18 degrees. We know that if you turn it down, that will save you - with current figures - at least £80 a year. So that is one vital thing that we should all be doing. Absolutely, definitely."
Alice moved onto the radiators. "If you've got a valve on your radiator, you need to be controlling that to get to the right level of temperature," she said. "And most importantly, you need to turn that right off if you're not using a room. You've got a spare room, dining room, any room you're not using very often, turn that valve right off."
Last, but by no means least, she moved to a third control which is usually found in a boiler cupboard which should allow you to turn the temperature of your water up and down which she said many people didn't know much about. "That controls the temperature of the hot water running through your living room," she said.
"Now if you run a bath or you fill a bowl to wash up and you're heating your water to a certain temperature, and then having to add cold, then think about how you're wasting money there. Paying to heat up the water and then adding cold to it, it makes no sense."
Alica said that the thermostatic control on the water should be about 60 degrees and not any higher. "Try it at 55 and then if you can do it a little lower, you will notice the difference in your bills," she said.
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