Working from home during the Omicron wave will push up household gas use and bills, the Resolution Foundation said on 10 January 2022, arguing that the answer lies in better insulation rather than in higher incomes alone1.
The foundation's analysis states that running the boiler all day means the average household uses around 50 per cent more gas than if the home were empty during working hours1. It adds that the cost of each unit of gas for boilers is around a third higher than a year earlier, and that the price cap has limited, but not prevented, the effect on bills1. Inflation had recently reached a 10-year high1.
The burden falls unevenly. The foundation says the lowest income households spend twice as much of their budgets on gas as the richest, a gap it links to the removal of the £20 universal credit uplift1. It also states that households on the lowest incomes are three times more likely to have run down savings during the pandemic than those at the top, and that many families face April's expected price cap rise already in debt to their energy company1.
On housing, the foundation says the problem is most acute in private rented accommodation, where the least insulated properties are most likely to have the oldest and most gas-hungry boilers, and where renters spend more than a third of income on rent1. It criticises repeated failed government initiatives, from the Green Deal to the Green Homes Grant, and says a recent plan to decarbonise homes focused on bringing down heat pump costs, leaving around 60 per cent of homeowners with no support for improving their homes1.
"Running the boiler all day will see the average household use around 50 per cent more gas than if their home was unoccupied during working hours"
| Measure | Figure given |
|---|---|
| Extra gas use from all-day boiler running | around 50 per cent |
| Rise in cost per unit of gas, year on year | around a third |
| Share of homeowners left with no support under the recent decarbonisation plan | around 60 per cent |
| Share of income renters spend on rent | more than a third |
| Emissions from homes, required fall by 2035 | halve |
Why it matters for households
A home that is occupied all day draws more gas than one that is empty, so the shift to home working transfers a cost that was previously carried by offices onto household meters. That cost lands hardest where the building itself is inefficient, because a leaky home needs more gas to hold the same temperature. The foundation's figures suggest the difference between a well insulated home and a poor one is now measured directly in the size of the bill, and that the gap between the two widens as unit prices rise. For a household, the practical link between insulation, glazing and energy independence is that less heat lost through the fabric means less gas bought, and less exposure to a price set outside the UK. The foundation notes that emissions from homes need to halve by 2035, and that progress on efficiency standards has barely moved year on year1.
What happens next
The foundation points to April's expected jump in the price cap, which it says many families will meet while already in debt to their energy company1. It gives no further dated commitments, and no timetable for the insulation funding it argues is missing has been reported1.
Sources1 cited
- Working from home means bigger bills and highlights the need for better insulation - The Inquiry, resolutionfoundation.org