Winter is coming, the days are getting shorter, and with them the fear of seeing bills explode. Between the heating running continuously, the hot water heater working overtime, and devices left in standby, the bill climbs quickly, especially in older or poorly insulated homes.
Good news: you don’t necessarily need a full renovation to ease the budget. By tweaking a few settings, boosting insulation a little, and reconsidering your heating method, you can already lower the bill. The question remains where to start to reduce your energy bill in winter.
Heating and light insulation: the key duo to reduce your energy bill in winter
The setpoint temperature is the first lever. The ADEME recommends aiming for 19 °C in living areas and 16 to 17 °C in bedrooms. Each additional degree increases the bill by about 7%, which quickly becomes significant over an entire winter. It’s better to wear an extra sweater, rely on throws or hot water bottles in bed, rather than pushing the thermostat to 21 or 22 °C.
Another simple habit: limit heat losses. Good insulation prevents heat from escaping and avoids unnecessary overheating. Seal the gaps at the bottom of doors, add weatherstripping to windows that leak air, close the shutters at nightfall, and install thick or thermal curtains. Rugs also help reduce the cold feel on the floor. Think about not placing furniture in front of radiators so that heat can diffuse freely, and install reflectors behind them to bounce heat back into the room rather than toward the wall.
Eau chaude et appareils : des réglages malins pour des économies visibles
Hot water is often overlooked, yet it weighs on the bill too. The ADEME recommends setting the thermostat on the water heater between 50 and 55 °C, a range sufficient to limit health risks and scale without overconsumption. This simple adjustment can save up to €31 per year. In winter, the air cools the walls of the tank: installing an insulating jacket, sold for around €40, can save up to €21 per year, especially if you complement with pipe insulation using foam sleeves. A well-maintained water heater, regularly descaled, consumes less energy for the same service.
Limiting the hot water flow also directly affects energy use. A flow restrictor or pressure reducer, sold for about €30, can generate up to €40 in savings per year, and so-called low-flow showerheads, around €50, further reduce the amount of water used per shower. In the kitchen, covering pots, turning off the oven a few minutes before the end of cooking, or favoring the microwave or a slow cooker are habits that prevent waste. For electricity, LED bulbs use up to 80% less energy than traditional bulbs, and the fight against standby power goes through switched power strips and scheduling major appliances during off-peak hours.
Switching Heating in Winter: When a Wood Stove Brings Down the Bill
In a 100 m² house heated electrically, the scenario is well known: from October to March, consumption often reaches 11,000 to 12,000 kWh, with a bill that frequently exceeds €2,400, and heat felt unevenly. The wood stove, by contrast, shows an average cost of around €1,058 per winter for the same area. User feedback cites savings ranging from €800 to over €1,200 starting in the first season. The difference comes from the nature of the heat: “With a stove, you heat the house, not just the air that circulates,” explains a veteran quoted by the Ecole d’agriculture site. Some users even call the stove “the only method that keeps the room warm,” while a gardener says this warmth is the only one that “gets into the body.”
Switching to a wood stove nonetheless requires an investment: between €500 and €8,000 for the unit, and up to €3,000 if a chimney must be built. A stove must have a stable draft, a dedicated air intake, and an appropriately sized flue, otherwise it may malfunction. “A stove poorly supplied with air becomes unstable, even if it’s an excellent model.” Poor insulation remains poor insulation: wood, which is among the cheapest energies on the market, partly offsets losses but does not replace poorly insulated attics or drafty windows. In a moderately insulated home where the main leaks have been addressed, wood heating enhances every improvement and can be complemented, budget permitting, by solar thermal panels to reduce the electricity or gas consumed for hot water.
