Nearly one in five (18%) households will try to hold off heating their homes until at least December, a survey has found.

More than three-quarters of people (78%) said they would layer up and wear warmer clothes rather than put on the heating and over a fifth (22%) said switching their heating on would only happen on rare occasions, according to Nationwide Building Society.

More than nine in 10 (91%) people are trying to switch on the lights less often.

Nationwide released the findings as it starts to offer cost-of-living financial health checks to struggling members, with appointments in branch, over the telephone or video. Nationwide previously launched a freephone cost-of-living hotline in August.

The Government’s energy price guarantee limits the unit cost of energy. An average household will pay around £2,500 per year. People could end up paying more if they live in a larger household, use more energy than average or live in a poorly insulated home, for example.

Mandy Beech, Nationwide’s director of retail services, said: “Now more than ever we would encourage anyone who is struggling financially to speak to their financial services provider.”

A separate survey from Smart Energy GB found that over half (56%) of households have changed their energy habits throughout this year and 29% are planning to keep monitoring them.

A third (36%) said they already have or would change their energy habits in order to protect their Christmas budgets.

Victoria Bacon, director at Smart Energy GB, which is running a “super smart energy savers” campaign said: “With temperatures set to drop further in the coming weeks and months, people will rely even more on heating to stay warm, so it will be even more important to look at their wider energy use and the energy efficiency of their homes.”