ENERGY bills remain high for millions of households across the UK, so you'll want to do what you can to reduce costs.
Electric blankets cost just pennies to run and can be a decent alternative to putting the heating on during the colder months.
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Checkatradeestimates that the average cost of running your heating per kilowatt-hour is around 7p.
For a 24kW boiler that's about £1.68 an hour, while most electric blankets cost will set you back between 1p and 4p an hour.
The nifty gadgets are effective at keeping your body warm, without having to heat up your whole home using the central heating.
Electric blankets go on top of your bed, and under your body, and are different to heated throws you put over you.
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But it can be hard to know which ones to choose as there are so many on the market.
So I put six to the test, with prices ranging between £29.99 and £59.99, to see how they fared.
And while most produced a satisfactory level of heat, one major difference between some was their size.
One even came out 28 inches smaller on one side compared to another, despite profession to be a double size.
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Dreamland
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- Price: £59.99
- Running cost: 4p an hour
- Number of heat settings: Four
The Dreamland blanket comes with four heat settings and a snug fleece cover which meant I couldn't even feel the electric coils while lying down.
It also has elastic straps on each corner so you can attach it to your bed to stop it from moving around at night.
It comes with dual-control too, which lets you change the temperature on each side of the blanket, ideal if one person doesn't want to sleep with it on.
I was impressed at how hot it got on the max setting, although this was too intense after just around 10 minutes, so I quickly switched to a lower temperature which kept me warm enough the whole night.
The digital display was a nice addition too, albeit not essential, and it heated up within just a few minutes.
- Price: 4/10
- Size: 8/10
- Performance: 9/10
- Overall: 21/30
Robert Dyas
- Price: £41.99
- Running cost: 1p
- Number of heat settings: Three
The Robert Dyas Cozy Night blanket comes with three heat settings and a nifty slider to control the temperature.
It also features dual-control and elastic straps, although it did take longer to heat up than the Dreamland model.
It was the biggest blanket out of all six I tested and easily fit around my double bed, which kept my toes and head warm throughout the night.
And despite it being the second most expensive out of all six options, all things considered, the Cozy Night came out on top of the test for me.
- Price: 5/10
- Size: 9/10
- Performance: 8/10
- Overall: 22/30
Currys
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- Price: £29.99
- Running cost: 1p
- Number of heat settings: Three
Currys's Status blanket was the cheapest out of the six I tested and you could tell.
It took around 10 minutes to get up to a decent temperature when some of the other blankets started warming up in just a few, and there were no elasticated straps to bolt it down.
Instead, it came with string which I had to tie to my bed to keep it in place.
Plus, while it professes to be a double size, lengthwise it's around 28 inches shorter than the Robert Dyas model.
It didn't stop me from getting a decent night's sleep, but it meant I woke up and my feet were cold.
- Price: 9/10
- Size: 5/10
- Performance: 5/10
- Overall: 19/30
Dunelm
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- Price: £30
- Running cost: 1p
- Number of heat settings: Three
The Dunelm blanket was the second cheapest of the six, and again it was obvious why when it came to using it.
The size was really small and it took around 15 minutes to get to the desired temperature.
When it did, the spread of heat was patchy and localised.
The elasticated straps were useful, but again the smaller size meant while my torso was snug, I couldn't feel much heat elsewhere.
- Price: 8/10
- Size: 7/10
- Performance: 5/10
- Overall: 20/30
Silentnight
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- Price: £30
- Running cost: 1p
- Number of heat settings: Three
I had high expectations for the Silentnight electric blanket as it is such a reputable brand and largely it didn't disappoint.
The £30 price tag made it one of the cheapest I tested, it only took a few minutes to get warm and came with elastic straps.
However, the size was small and one major drawback was that it only had a plug on one side.
Annoyingly, it was the wrong side to my socket as well, which meant having to drag the cable along the back of the mattress.
You could theoretically flip the blanket, but it would mean not being able to attach the elastic straps on the bed without turning the corners.
- Price: 8/10
- Size: 7/10
- Performance: 6/10
- Overall: 21/30
Argos
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- Price: £35
- Running cost: 1p
- Number of heat settings: Three
Argos' £35 Slumberdown double electric blanket came with three heat settings, elastic straps and was nice and soft.
It heated up quite slowly though, taking around 15 minutes to get warm enough, although when it did there was a good spread of heat.
But all things considered, it didn't justify being £5 more expensive than most of the other blankets.
- Price: 6/10
- Size: 5/10
- Performance: 7/10
- Overall: 18/30
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In other news, we tested heated throws to find the best one - this is what we found.
Plus, reporter Rosie Taylor tried alternative mince pies ahead of the festive season.
