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Winter is coming here...!
20 Winter Wallet Savers: Take the boiler challenge, cheap breakdown cover, fix your energy bill, tactical curtains, free hot drinks & more

Shorter days and colder weather are upon us, with higher energy bills going hand-in-hand. Winter also brings a higher risk of boiler and car breakdown - which can quickly become high-cost problems at a high-cost time of year (if you don't have cover). Thankfully, a few quick seasonal checks and tips can slash costs.

1. Take the boiler flow-rate challenge - cut gas bills by £65/yr. Many gas combi boilers' default flow rate setting (the temperature of the water that circulates) is higher than needed, making boilers less efficient. Reducing it is easy, can cut bills by 4% and you're unlikely to feel a difference. Take the boiler challenge.

PS: For far more, see our checklist of 70+ ways to save energy, a mix of hardcore savings and thrifty crowd-sourced tips.

2. Get full service breakdown cover for just £57/yr. Breakdowns spike in cold weather, and the consequences are often worse too, eg, stuck on the side of the road when it's freezing...

• Roadside recovery, home start & onward travel £57. AutoAid's* been one of our top picks for over a decade. It covers you and your partner in any car you or they drive. Newbies via this link pay £57yr (£22 more if the car's 16+ yrs old, and there's a £25 call-out fee if the car's 10+ yrs old). Call-out time and service feedback is decent. 
  
  Alternatively, Eversure* at £57.50/yr is similar, though won't cover cars more than 15yrs old. Equivalent cover with the big providers can be £200+. See Cheap breakdown cover for more options.
  
  
• Want a new AA/RAC policy? Cashback sites can save you 50%+. For new policies (so, if you're with the AA, go for the RAC, and vice versa) buy direct, and even basic cover can cost around £100. Yet use the right cashback sites, and it can work out as '£50/yr' basic or '£106/yr' full service.
  
  
• Beware auto-renewal, you'll pay over the odds - try haggling, four in five succeed. Haggle success rates for breakdown cover beat any other sector, so if you're at renewal and want to stick where you are, see our full Breakdown haggling tips. Renewal success rates in our latest poll of those who try to haggle are 84% with the RAC and 87% with the AA. 
  
  As Martin (not that one) emailed: "AA breakdown haggle success story! Last year's price was £122, the renewal came in at a whopping £325, but I managed to haggle this down to £118 for the exact same cover!" 

3. Free or cheap hot drinks. If you know what you're doing, you can get free takeaway cuppas at Caffè Nero, Greggs, and Waitrose (you could even grab the freebie and give it to someone sleeping rough), or free refills at Morrisons Café and Wetherspoon pubs. See Free tea & coffee tricks for full info.

4. Get off the Pants Price Cap - lock in 13% cheaper bills NOW. Fixing's the easy way for most to save - as you're locking in a rate, you get the peace of mind of knowing exactly what you'll pay. Plus, you'll save over the Price Cap straight away as we enter the high-use winter period (and that cap will rise 0.2% on 1 Jan, see what'll happen to prices). 

Just jump straight to a Cheap Energy Club Comparison to find your cheapest, as your winner depends on where you live and how much energy you use.

The cheapest fixes on average are from Ecotricity, Outfox Energy, and E.on Next - all have deals over 10% cheaper than the current Price Cap. These are mainly available to those who pay by monthly Direct Debit, and Outfox and E.on don't require you to have a smart meter to get the cheap tariffs. If you're on a smart prepay meter, the cheapest fix is from EDF.

Yet fixes aren't the only route. There are specialist tariffs that can be winners in specific circumstances, including those for very low users, EV drivers, and solar panel owners. Sophisticated energy users can also look at rapid-change time-of-use tariffs.

5. Do you know where your stopcock is? Everyone should know where their main 'water off' switch is. Frozen pipe bursts create on average £9,000 of damage - worse if you can't find the off switch as your home floods. See how to turn your mains water off.

6. Is your fridge or freezer too cold? Fridges should be 5°C, freezers -18°C. If yours are lower, you're likely wasting energy.

7. Free fire safety check. There are around 30,000 house fires and sadly almost 300 fire-related deaths in Britain each year - often related to heating and electricals, many of which are used more in the winter. This free fire safety check could reduce risks. PS: Even if you're on a cheap overnight energy tariff, beware having tumble driers on overnight.

8. Can you slash boiler cover costs by £100s and get a 'free' service? Don't feel you need to get boiler cover from your energy provider - they're not linked. In fact, in some cases you may not want it at all, as most new boilers are reliable, and self-insuring (putting cash aside each month in case of a problem) can work well.

Yet if you want cover, or already have an existing policy, check if you can save £100s via one of these two routes:

1. Do a quick comparison. Comparison sites do most of the work for you. Prices can vary by where you live, your boiler's age/type, your excess level (raising this can slash cover costs, but you pay the excess per callout, so may not be worth it if you've an older/less reliable boiler), and if you also want extras like plumbing, electrics and drains covered.
   
   So, checking more than one site is smart. We'd try MoneySupermarket* and Uswitch as between them they cover a large panel of insurers. If you've time you may want to add in GoCompare or Compare The Market, though their panels are smaller.
   
   
2. You can sometimes get special deals by going direct. We've blagged a deal with YourRepair* where newbies who go via our link get a discount of between 10% and 35% as well as a £20-£40 Amazon voucher (discount / voucher amount based on your level of cover). Hometree* is another direct provider that's worth checking.
   
   Both include a 'free' annual service, contribute towards replacement boilers (typically only if yours is under 7yrs old) and meet our minimum cover levels (which is something you'll need to check yourself if going via comparison sites). Both also get broadly solid feedback - but experiences vary. As always, check the small print to be sure the cover suits your needs.

Even if you don't want to switch provider, you may be able to haggle a better deal. For far more help, see our Cheap boiler cover guide.

9. Try dropping your thermostat by one degree. Many have thermostats set in the 20s, but 18°C is said to be fine for healthy adults. Test turning it down a degree (or more), and adding extra clothing. A cut from 21°C to 20°C could save a typical home £90/yr. PS: The thermostat's job is to take you to the set temp... it may take longer when it's cold, so don't feel the need to turn it up.

10. Free car check - oil, battery, wipers etc (normally £15). Before any long journey in cold and wet weather, it's a 'wheely' good idea to check your motor's in tip-top condition. And there's a way to get Halfords' 10-point car check for free - it examines oil levels, battery, tyres, wipers and bulbs, and includes a screenwash top-up.

11. Fit free water-saving shower heads. As we pay to heat it, cutting water use often reduces energy bills too. There are currently 700,000+ water-saving freebies available, eg, a low-flow shower head (pushes air through too, so you feel little difference) which can save up to £30/yr of hot water. And 10,000+ of them are for winter specifically, eg, tap jackets and pipe lagging to help prevent freezing. Related: Slash £100s off water bills.

12. Free flu jabs. Are you eligible? It takes mere seconds to check and, if not, we've how to get it cheaply. See free & cheap flu jabs.

13. Check now if you're in too much energy credit, you could be due £100s back. If you pay by monthly Direct Debit, you SHOULD usually be in credit at this time of year, as you've been storing it up over the summer months to use in the winter. 

• Start by checking our 'Is your Direct Debit right?' calculator to find out roughly what it should be.
• If you don't have a working smart meter, then make sure you've done an updated meter reading (wait until that's factored into your bill before doing anything).
• If your Direct Debit's correct and meter reading is up to date, then if you're more than a couple of months worth of Direct Debits in credit, that's too much. See Martin's how to get your energy credit back blog for what to do.

It can pay off, as Katherine emailed last month: "Just wanted to let you know I followed Martin's advice and called my energy supplier (Outfox) as I noticed I had £970 in credit! They refunded me £470. Win win - a lovely windfall just before Christmas. THANK YOU!"

14. Just want to pay for what you use? Don't do 'payment in receipt of bills'. If you want to be billed each month for what you use, variable Direct Debits are 8% cheaper than paying when you receive a bill. 

16. Check if you're due automatic Government support. (Also see N. Ireland energy support).
- State pensioners earning under £35,000/yr get up to £300 in Winter Fuel Payments.
- Those on benefits get the £150 Warm Home Discount. Most in Scotland and those in park homes will need to apply - do it ASAP, as funding's limited.
- The Cold Weather Payment (Eng, Wales, NI) period started on 1 Nov, and the flat £60 Winter Heating Payment (Scot) will be paid from Dec.

17. Should you leave heat on all day or only put it on when needed? This and other energy-saving conundrums in our 15 energy mythbusters guide.

18. Check your radiator valves, don't heat empty rooms. Ensure you control which rooms you heat, so you're not wasting cash overheating empty spaces. Make sure you walk round the house and turn down radiators (or other heating systems) in rooms you needn't heat. PS: Noisy radiators? Cold patches when you're blasting the heating? Check and bleed 'em.

19. How much do your Christmas lights cost? It's worth knowing whether you can turn them on without worrying too much about the bills or not - use our updated Xmas lights & decs calc.

20. And finally, use your curtains tactically! Curtains are a great energy-efficiency weapon. Keep them open during the day to let the sunlight (however little there is) radiate heat in. Then close them as soon as it gets dark to reduce heat escaping.