How to cut energy bills in a Victorian HMO?

Hi Ryan,
My recommendation is initially to instal decent heating controls throughout the house. There are some very good internet enabled TRV’s available at affordable prices now and these alone should pay for themselves within a few months in an HMO.
In order of bang for your bucks the next options for a Victorian house with solid walls are:
1. Reflectors behind the radiators on external walls.
2. Ensure the loft insulation is at 300mm
3. Fit a decent insulated and draft proof loft hatch.
4. Work on the draft proofing throughout the property.
5. Make sure the ventilation is working as it should (moist air is more expensive to heat than if lower humidity and also adds to poor air quality). dMEV and PIV fans work well in these types of houses but be aware that correctly fitted FS30 fire doors in HMO’s create air seals, so that needs to be addressed.
6. Fit underfloor and internal wall insulation as rooms become free – it can be completed in about 2-3 days by experienced fitters.
Finally, use fitters who know what they are doing! I run a specialist insulation and ventilation company and the number of times we have come out to redo poor, ineffective work done by general builders is unreal (we are going to a luxury mansion next week where the large flat roof extension has a warm roof but the contractor failed to close off the gaps between the roof joists leaving all the heat to escape through the soffits, making the insulation useless and the room like an ice box). If your contractor hasn’t heard of PAS2030 or doesn’t know what the latest requirements are of Parts F or L of Building Regulations then you may want to look for someone else.
Good luck with it all – with a bit of effort you should be able to make some sizeable savings.

I use a system called Timeostat. Tenants have to push a button to activate the heating system which then comes on for at a set time. When it goes off they need to press the button again. If no one is home then the heating is completely off.

Close the boiler off in an enclosed cupboard and set it it to a timer for when people are at home, also it means in summer you can switch heating off. I have HMO’s and it works a treat!!

First, I have Inspire timer/thermost, its internet controlled, and I sent the timer and when its in winter mode. I have it set up so the tenants can boost the heating for 1 hour, to a max of 21 deg in the hallway (bedrooms do get hotter). I do then have a system that I have basically made myself of smart TRV’s linked to window sensors (so radiators turn off when the window is open) but its a bit complicated, (you would need to be very competent with technology). I also put PIR’s on the lights in all the communal areas. And the last thing I did was change the tumble dryer, if you supply one, for a heat pump model, it halved the energy use.