Nobody likes thinking about their bills other than to wish for them to disappear and central heating isn’t exactly an inspiring conversation choice. But heating our home is something we all have to do in one way or another and unfortunately it doesn’t come cheap.

However, there are a few small changes that you can make to your home and appliances that will keep the heat in and the bills down. You’ll even be helping the environment too.

Most of us use gas boilers to heat our home. Gone are the days when you needed a large space, separate to your boiler, for the hot water tank thanks to the combi-boiler. Not only do combination boilers save you space, they also save you money.

Combi-boilers only heat up the water when you need it meaning you won’t have the heating on all the time just so that you can have a hot shower in the morning. You will save on your energy bills because you will be using less power so you’ll reduce your carbon footprint.

You should also switch to energy-efficient boilers, known as condensers. By using the gases that would normally escape from the flue to condense the water vapour in the tank back into water you’ll save power and reduce heat loss.

British Gas is making the switch more affordable this summer. If you buy a new boiler from them before 25 July you could save £852. This saving includes £400 off a new boiler, free home care for one year worth £204 and free radiator heating and controls installation worth £248. Plus these boilers could save you around £170 a year.

The free controls installation offers further savings potential. By having full control over the heating in your house, using timers and individual thermostats on each radiator, you can chop another £100 off your annual heating bills.

If everyone in the UK installed a new energy-efficient combi-boiler we would save 13 million tonnes of CO2 and enough energy to heat 3.4 million homes for a year.

Once you’ve spent the money on keeping your home warm, you don’t want the heat escape through the roof and walls. 50% of the heat from your home is lost this way, so you will save a considerable sum by getting the proper insulation.

Although installing the proper insulation will cost around £700 for your cavity walls and roof but it can save you £365 a year on your electricity bills and you will qualify for a tax rebate from your local authority of up to £125, so it will pay for itself in less than two years.