As winter takes hold, it appears there's a specific time to heat your home without causing a significant increase in your energy bills.

With the cold weather here for the foreseeable future, many are concerned about keeping their homes warm affordably.

Experts suggest maintaining energy efficiency and warmth, particularly at night, is largely dependent on how you utilise your home heating system. The exact time you switch on your heating can greatly influence the overall comfort and cost-effectiveness of your home.

Llewellyn Kinch, CEO and co-founder of solar platform and home energy specialists MakeMyHouseGreen, stated: "With things getting chillier as winter sets in, people depend more on their heating to stay warm in the house. Night tends to suck the heat out of a house in winter. Who wants to get up in the morning to a freezing house? If you use your home heating in one key way, you and your family won’t have to."

It appears there’s an unexpected, prime time to turn your heating on in the evening that can keep your house pleasantly warm all winter night long - and it’s right before you go to bed.

The expert added: "To create a balance between energy efficiency and home comfort at night, turn your heating on about an hour before you go to bed and leave it on for a few hours by setting the timer. That way, the house won’t get too cold at night, and it won’t require so much energy to heat it up again on those frosty mornings."

Adopting this habit could significantly improve the warmth of your home during winter, and potentially reduce your energy bills. If you typically schedule your heating to switch off late in the evening, as many do during the colder months, consider adjusting it to remain on for a few hours after you've gone to bed, or manually activate it about an hour before bedtime.

Ensure you set a timer so your heating turns off an hour or so after you've retired to bed. This will allow the entire house to reach a comfortable temperature without overburdening the system – and likely make for a cosier bed time for your family.

Other energy efficient solutions to keeping your home warmer in winter include closing your curtains and shutting doors to keep heat in the rooms you use most – and those you use least. This is because unused, cold rooms suck heat from warmer rooms through walls and doors, and that will waste heat energy.

Use draft excluders around windows and external doors to keep the cold from getting in while keeping your house toasty, too.

Over on TikTok, cost-effective heating solution tips are incredibly popular as more people aim to feel comfortable and cosy without suffering eye-watering energy bills. The official Citizens’ Advice TikTok page shared a string of helpful ideas and good-to-know tips.

In one short clip that boasts more than 13K likes, the network said heated blankets cost just 2p an hour to run, as well as reiterating the need for draft excluders to keep heat in.

The advice forum also advises not overfilling the kettle for that much-adored cuppa; washing clothes at 30 degrees; and by limiting showers to four minutes, you could save around £95 each year.

In the video's comment section, one person stated dejectedly: "It’s sad we’ve had to come to this", another exclaimed: "FOUR MINUTES? YOU AREN'T CLEAN IN FOUR MINUTES!!!!!" While yet another commented wistfully: "This isn’t the kind of future I anticipated but here we are!"