One in three Brits too cold at home10 December 2010
You can leave your hat on, Tom Jones sang.
And that's what many Brits did during the cold snap, with a quarter admitting to wearing a coat, hat or gloves at home to ward off the chill.
The new survey, commissioned by Friends of the Earth, also found that one in three people felt uncomfortably cold in their home during the wintry weather.
But just because it's bitter outside doesn't mean you should be shivering indoors too.
Friends of the Earth is asking the Government to help warm our homes with a nationwide refit. This means making sure the coldest two thirds of British houses are improved with better insulation and heating by the end of the decade.
Many people mistakenly believe their home is properly insulated - in fact, £1 in every £4 we spend heating our homes is wasted due to poor insulation.
Warm Homes campaigner Dave Timms
Stopping our homes leaking heat would save us money.
The poll found that 57 per cent of Brits kept the heating on non-stop for more than 12 hours trying to stay warm. This was despite energy price hikes that have seen the average annual gas and electricity bill rise to £1,228.
And it showed that tenants renting from a landlord or through a letting agency fared the worst during the big freeze. Half felt uncomfortably cold at home and thought their home lacked adequate insulation.
In comparison, 86 per cent of homeowners thought their home was properly insulated and 30 per cent found it too cold.
Did you know?
In fact, Government figures show just 0.3 per cent of English homes are properly insulated to a high standard of energy efficiency that would make them really cheap to heat.
To protect vulnerable tenants, we're calling for a new law making it illegal to rent out the coldest, health-hazard properties until they're improved.
Ask your MP to help stop people in draughty rented homes suffering in the cold.
Making the UK's homes energy efficient is one of the quickest and cheapest ways to slash carbon emissions. We need to cut C02 from housing by 42 per cent this decade to help avoid dangerous climate change.
© Beatrix Rose Photography
