With the energy price cap set to rise by 4% from 1 October, new data reveals where Britons are using the most heat at home and the rooms worth paying closer attention to as winter approaches.

Analysis from home energy management company tado° finds that the living room accounts for the biggest share of heating demand in the average UK home, at 28%, closely followed by the bedroom at 25.9%.

Kitchens account for 18.2%, while dining rooms and bathrooms make up 15.4% and 15.2% respectively.

The findings come as Ofgem raises the energy price cap from £1,663 to £1,723 a year for a typical dual-fuel household paying by Direct Debit from 1 October – a 4% increase just as millions of households begin switching their heating back on.

The £1,723 figure is not a maximum bill: what households actually pay still depends on how much energy they use.

And with the biggest increase falling on gas, the capped gas unit rate rises from 7.33p to 7.97p per kWh, an increase of almost 9%, knowing where heat is being used around the home could become particularly important for gas-heated households this winter.

Where people use their heating also changes depending on where they live.

While the living room is the biggest heating-demand room across most of the country, Londoners devote just as much heating demand to their bedrooms as their living rooms – 29% each. London’s kitchens are also the most heated in the country at 20%.

At the other end of the spectrum, Northern Ireland is the only region where bedrooms clearly overtake living rooms, accounting for 29% of heating demand compared with 26% for the living room. Bathrooms also range from 17% in London to just 12% in Northern Ireland.

With energy prices rising, one of the simplest ways households can take more control is by managing rooms individually rather than heating the whole home in the same way.

Five things households can do this winter:

  1. Use smart energy management to stay in control wherever you are. Smart heating controls let you manage your home from your phone, so if plans change and you’re out later than expected, you can adjust the heating remotely.
  2. Use geofencing to avoid heating an empty room. Living rooms and bedrooms account for the biggest shares of your heating, so make sure they are not being heated when no one is using them. Geofencing can recognise when nobody is home and automatically adjust heating, helping avoid heating an empty house.
  3. Use smart radiator thermostats for room-by-room control. Smart radiator thermostats let households set different temperatures for different rooms, helping avoid heating the whole home to the same level.
  4. Give every room its own smart schedule. A bathroom might need to be warm first thing in the morning, while a living room may only need heating in the evening. Smart Schedules allow each room to follow a routine based on when it is actually used.
  5. Balance your heating without calling a plumber. If some radiators heat up quickly while others stay cooler, your heating system may not be distributing hot water evenly. Hydronic balancing helps make sure each radiator gets the right amount of heat. With smart radiator thermostats, this can be managed automatically, helping your heating system run more efficiently without needing a plumber to manually adjust every radiator.

Christian Deilmann, co-founder and MD at tado°, says:

“The energy price cap rising just as people start turning their heating back on makes this a good moment to look at where that heat is actually going.

“The important thing is that households do not have to heat every room in exactly the same way. Smart controls can make it much easier to manage different rooms, set schedules and turn heating down when spaces are not being used — all from an app rather than going around the house adjusting each radiator individually.”