climateXchange

You're obviously made of stern stuff!

I will say though that I've found the EER ratings bear little useful relationship to 'sensible' heat and actual energy efficiency of a home. I often suggest to friends considering buying a property to disregard those things, which often seem to rely on counting installed equipment and their relative energy efficiency compared to more outdated technologies, and just trust to how your body feels on walking into a house/apartment at different times of the day. It is really worthwhile considering things like orientation, building materials, and whether it's possible to make small modifications to make a difference to the climate of the home. 

My current house has a high rating, due to things like its RC heater/cooler, yet it's either cold or hot depending on the time of year and everyone complains that it's freezing, which is quite true, in winter. My electricity bills for September were astronomical. Double glazing helps with heat and sound reduction in some parts of the house, yet I'm convinced the chief problem is that the building developers use cheap materials (hardiplank cladding lined with foil is rubbish and shouldn't be allowed as an insulation material between walls in Canberra's climate – we're being ripped off).

Yet, I had an apartment once that had the perfect combination of factors to make it a much more pleasant temperature ie., it was double brick, sandwiched between other apartments, north facing on the balcony side, I installed batts in my part of the ceiling and since it was top floor I also put in solar tubes to light the inner parts of the flat.  I got rid of old fashioned wall heaters in favour of under carpet heating that was on controls for each room. It retained both natural and manmade heat very well.

I agree that dressing appropriately in winter is best wherever possible, but would say it's easier if your home is made of the right materials and properly oriented too.