Martin Lewis recommends winter energy bill heating trick costing less than £10

Money expert Martin Lewis has shared his essential tips for households to keep warm this winter, recommending several little-known hacks which can save considerable sums of money.

Many in the UK are facing high energy costs as the country heads into the colder months. For October to December 2025, Ofgem’s energy price cap is set at £1,720, up two per cent from the three months prior.

The figure is expressed as an annual bill for an average home, and is not the maximum that can be charged. The price cap set by Ofgem actually sets the maximum amount energy suppliers can charge for each unit of energy, so bills will still vary with usage.

This has become a recurring yearly burden for many, as energy debt and fuel poverty continues to rise.

In the face of falling temperatures and rising costs, Mr Lewis recommends struggling households remember to “heat the human, not the home”.

This means not using excess energy to keep an entire home heated when it is not necessary to keep every member of the household warm.

One lesser known trick the Money Saving Expert founder recommends is using reflective panels behind radiators, ensuring heat emitting from the back of the device will make its way into the room, rather than be absorbed by the wall.

Mr Lewis explains: “Sheets of reflective material can be placed behind radiators. Crucially this is on external wall radiators so the heat doesn’t escape. If you don’t want to pay for those then tin foil can work although it doesn’t work quite as well.”

This can be a cheap and effective hack, with rolls of heat reflector foil costing less than £10 at several retailers.

Focusing on radiators, Mr Lewis said: “If you’ve got radiators in rooms that you’re not using, go and turn them off before you turn the heating on so you’re not wasting cash overheating empty spaces.

“Changing the flow rate on your boiler can cut gas bill by over 9 per cent and you won’t notice the change,” he added.

Mr Lewis’s money expert team has shared some key devices people can use to keep warm, breaking down the cost of each. Amongst the cheapest are USB gloves (£10) and a Microwaveable wheat bag (£4), however these cheaper offerings are more likely to only heat one part of the body.

Those looking for a gadgets with a wider surface to keep more of them warm may want to invest in an electric blanket at £35, which typically cost 2p an hour to run.

For a guide to the latest cost of living support on offer, visit The Independent’s regularly updated guide