Save up to 12% on your heating bill with a simple approach to your property manager.
While electricity and gas prices have increased drastically in recent years, we are all afraid of seeing our energy bills skyrocket this winter. All small gestures are good to take, and when they are combined, it is possible to make big savings. After a cold week in mid-September, temperatures have risen and are stabilizing according to forecasts for the start of October. An opportunity that will allow us to save on heating, one of the biggest expense items on your electricity bill, by turning on our radiators a little later.
If your heating system, whether electric or gas, is individual, you control when you turn it on. As long as it’s not cold, your radiators aren’t on and you don’t pay for heating. But what about all tenants and owners whose heating system is collective and whose start-up date is imposed? Is it possible to choose this date? To postpone it by several days to pay less?
The date of commissioning of collective heating is defined by the union council, or by vote during the general meeting of co-ownership which takes place once a year. The start of the heating period is generally around October 15. Last year, the start of autumn was rather mild. And postponing the start-up date for collective heating has enabled many households to make savings of up to 12% on heating consumption. If it’s not too cold in October, the radiators will be turned on even though you don’t need them yet. Given the price of electricity and gas, these expenses can easily be avoided.
Each year, the government calls on households in buildings with a collective heating installation to postpone the start-up date for collective heating as part of the energy efficiency plan. He recommends starting around early or mid-November, but also cutting earlier in spring. According to the government, “reducing the heating period by one month in total would generate a gain of around 12% on heating consumption, corrected for climatic hazards”. It may be worth a little effort when the first cool weather arrives…
But how can we delay the start of the heating period? Whether you are owners or tenant, you must make the request to your co-ownership trustee (if you are a tenant, your owner can do it for you). But this has no obligation, you are not alone in deciding. Since the heating is collective, it will study the different requests, while taking into account the temperatures, and the residents will have to agree on the new date. Please note that it is also possible to postpone the date on which collective heating is turned off at the end of the season.