TheWeatherOutlook, one of the UK’s leading weather forecasters, predicts that there’s going to be a 50% chance of snow this Winter. Even if you don’t get any snow where you live, you will feel the effects of it as this Winter is predicted to be colder than average. Not what we want to hear when we look at our heating bills.
This Autumn has been quite mild, the only extreme weather conditions was the increased rain fall. However, as we entered into December the weather made a considerable change. We are now starting to see the cold weather kick in and it will come as quite a shock to the system for many.
Around 37,000 people died last year because of the cold weather during Winter. This death toll was almost 50% higher than that of the previous year. Of those 37,000, over 90% were elderly as they are the least able to pay their heating bills and they are also the most likely to catch cold based diseases.
Now with another cold Winter planned this year, plus that we are trying to get out of a global recession, it’s estimated that even more elderly pensioners will die this Winter. There are some methods of getting heating for cheaper than usual. The first would be the use of portable heaters which provides affordable heating without the need of central heating. A fan heater is another alternative to powering up the central heating. Thes portable heaters can provide an almost instant supply of cheap heat, however, they do require an electricity supply which will increase your electricty bill.
The final alternative, the probably the best, would be a paraffin heater. These highly portable appliances are very cheap to power and require no wires for improved portability. The majority of the modern units are very stylish and provide alot of heat. They also feature a number of safety features including an anti-topple feature which turns off the heater if it’s knocked.
All of the above would help to reduce the amount of deaths we see each year from the cold. Unfortunately you can’t buy indoor patio heaters as these are a great source of heat. As for those us of that manage to survive the Winter chill, we will be able to look ahead to what’s predicted to be the warmest summer ever.