Winter now has a price on it. On 1 October 2026, Ofgem raised the energy price cap by 4%, taking the typical dual-fuel bill for a household paying by direct debit from £1,663 to £1,723 a year — about £60 more, or £5 a month. Gas is 7.97p per kWh and electricity 26.32p per kWh under the cap, which runs until 31 December 2026, and Ofgem is due to announce the January to March 2027 cap by 25 November 2026.
Winter in the UK rarely arrives with one dramatic freeze. It creeps in through October and November: darker evenings, damp mornings, and a first cold snap that reminds you the heating has not been switched on since spring. Book tradespeople in autumn, while they are still available — once the cold arrives, every heating engineer in the area is busy, and the job you meant to do in October becomes a January emergency.
1. Service the boiler and test the heating
If the boiler has not been serviced in the last year, book a Gas Safe registered engineer before the cold weather arrives. A service checks that the boiler is running safely and efficiently, and can catch small problems — a worn seal, a failing pump — before they turn into a breakdown. A one-off boiler service typically costs £70 to £150, according to 2026 cost guides, with independent engineers at the cheaper end and national brands charging £130 to £200.
If you have a gas boiler, the service is also a safety check. A faulty boiler can produce carbon monoxide, a colourless and odourless gas that is extremely dangerous. Make sure you have a working carbon monoxide alarm near your boiler and gas appliances.
Before you call anyone out, try the heating yourself: switch it on for an hour on a mild day and check that every radiator warms up. One free change is worth making while you are there. Nesta, which ran the national Money Saving Boiler Challenge, found that turning a condensing combi boiler's flow temperature down from 80°C to 60°C saves around 9% of the gas it burns — about £68 a year at October 2026 cap prices. It only applies to condensing combi boilers, not to system boilers, heat pumps or homes with a hot-water cylinder.
2. Bleed the radiators
Radiators hot at the bottom and cold at the top probably have trapped air inside, which stops them heating properly. Bleeding a radiator — letting the air out with a radiator key — takes a couple of minutes. With the heating off and the radiators cool, open the bleed valve slowly until air hisses out, then close it as soon as water appears. Afterwards, check the boiler pressure gauge; bleeding can drop the pressure, and you may need to top it up following your boiler manual. Check that furniture and curtains are not blocking your radiators: a sofa pushed against one traps the heat where nobody feels it.
3. Draught-proof doors and windows
You can feel draughts around front doors, letterboxes, keyholes, window frames and where floorboards meet skirting boards. Sealing them is cheap, quick, and often makes a room feel warmer. Self-adhesive foam strips and brush strips fit around door and window frames, a letterbox brush keeps the wind out, and a keyhole cover costs very little. A draught excluder seals gaps under internal doors, and if your home has a chimney you do not use, a chimney balloon stops warm air escaping up the flue.
The Energy Saving Trust puts the saving from draught-proofing windows, doors and floors at around £55 a year in Great Britain. Professional draught-proofing of a whole house costs about £250 — a payback of roughly four and a half years — while DIY strips cost £20 to £60. Do not seal every gap: homes need some ventilation to prevent condensation and damp, and kitchens and bathrooms in particular need airflow after cooking or showering.
4. Protect the pipes from freezing
When water freezes inside a pipe, it expands, and the pressure can split the pipe. The real damage often happens when the ice thaws and water pours out. Insulate exposed pipes, especially in the loft, garage and under the floor, with foam pipe insulation from a hardware shop, and insulate your cold water tank in the loft too.
Know where your stopcock is, and check that it turns. If a pipe bursts, turning off the water quickly is the difference between a puddle and a flood. If you go away in winter, leave the heating on low — around 15 degrees — rather than switching it off, so the pipes never get cold enough to freeze.
5. Check the roof, gutters and outside
Blocked gutters overflow in heavy rain, soaking walls and causing damp. Clear leaves and debris from gutters and check downpipes are not blocked — a garden hose run down the pipe will show whether water flows freely. If you are not comfortable on a ladder, hire someone. From the ground, look for slipped or cracked roof tiles and check the flashing around chimneys and roof windows. Outside, secure anything that could blow around in high winds: garden furniture, trampolines, pots and loose fence panels. Cut back overhanging branches that could fall on the house or a power line, and drain or cover outdoor taps so they do not freeze and split.
6. Prepare for storms and power cuts
Winter storms can knock out power, sometimes for hours. A small emergency kit costs little and removes a lot of stress. Keep torches with spare batteries, a battery-powered or wind-up radio, a portable phone charger, bottled water, and food that does not need cooking, plus blankets, warm layers and a basic first aid kit. Charge your phone when a storm is forecast, and save 105, the national power-cut number, in your phone. If you rely on medical equipment that needs power, ask your network operator about joining the Priority Services Register, which gives extra support during outages.
7. Check what help you can claim
Two schemes are worth checking before the coldest months. The Warm Home Discount is worth £150, deducted from your electricity bill by your supplier, for households on a low income or claiming certain benefits such as Universal Credit. The Winter Fuel Payment is £100 to £300, paid automatically to people born on or before 27 June 1960, with HMRC recovering it if your income is over £35,000.
Longer term, the Energy Saving Trust puts the cost of fitting a programmer, room thermostat and radiator valves at around £600, with a saving of about £100 a year in Great Britain — a six-year payback, so it is a job for a planned upgrade rather than a pre-winter rush. The boiler service is the one job on this list that depends on someone else's diary: book it this weekend, before the first cold snap books every engineer in the area. Ofgem's next cap announcement, due by 25 November 2026, will show whether January brings any relief; the draught-proofing and the boiler service will pay off either way.