Hundreds of Australian families are struggling to heat their homes this winter, with new research revealing that 70% of Australians are using their heaters less in a bid to cut their energy bills.
Climate Control Alliance data found that three in five Australians live in homes with temperatures below 18C, temperatures declared “unsafe” by the World Health Organization.
But for thousands of Australians with medical conditions, turning off the heating to save on bills is not an option at all.
Victoria resident Jennifer Willis said keeping her home warm during the winter months was not just a matter of comfort, but also a way to manage the symptoms of an “unexpected” illness.
After a decade of experiencing a range of neurological symptoms that she knew weren’t “quite right,” Ms. Willis was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2018, an autoimmune disease where the immune system attacks the body’s central nervous system.
Six years later, the 52-year-old says making sure her home stays at 21 degrees Celsius is one way she prevents the cognitive symptoms of MS from developing.
“It’s like my mind is a puzzle that sometimes fits together well,” Ms. Willis said. “It’s like the pieces are jerked around and don’t want to fit together once I get cold.”
My mind doesn’t work the same way.
“Then the challenges of thinking lead to more fatigue because everything you try to do becomes more difficult.”
Ms. Willis said the costs of managing her symptoms during the winter were high, with electricity bills running about $400 a month.
But Mrs. Willis said, “You can’t do anything about it.”
“It definitely makes me worry about making ends meet… I often end up paying my bills late too because they come in and they’re big,” she said.
“I’m just trying to juggle some money so I can manage it.”
Alliance Climate Control comfort expert Goran Sorbowski said it was no surprise that 70 per cent of Australians had reduced their heating to manage their expenses.
“This is not surprising given the rising cost of living we have seen over the past few years, with a third of Australians now spending more than $300 on heating bills in winter,” he said.
However, Mr Sorbowski said cutting heating costs put Australians at risk.
He said it was “deeply concerning” that 60 per cent of Australians lived in homes with unsafe temperatures while a third of people struggled to heat their homes regularly.
“This highlights a significant issue of poor insulation and poor building designs that fail to retain heat in Australian homes. In addition, there is a lack of efficient heating systems in Australian homes,” he said.
“More than half of those living in temperatures below 18°C, who also said they could not regularly heat their homes to a comfortable temperature, relied on inefficient heating methods such as electric and gas room heaters, portable electric heaters or no heating at all.”
Ms Willis said that although she was careful to wear layers of clothing during the winter months, the clothes did not always help her control her symptoms.
“I need to run the heat most of the time when I’m home because I find that clothes don’t do the job,” she said.
“If the house is cold, but I wear a lot of clothes, I still feel cold, and I still feel a little heavy.”
The federal government has announced a new $300 energy rebate for every Australian household in this year’s budget.
The discount will be automatically applied to the electricity bill of eligible households.
