Is it cheaper to heat my home with gas or electricity?
We get asked this question regularly, and on the face of it it has a very simple answer.
To buy one unit of mains gas (measured in kWh) you will pay about 4p / kWh. Conversely, one unit of electricity from the mains (also measure in kWh) will cost you about 15p/kWh.
This means that gas is about 3-4 times cheaper than electricity per kWh.
That said, there are a number of other factors that make the comparison far less simple.
Gas boilers are not 100% efficient
The first thing to complicates direct comparisons is that, while an electric radiator will turn 1 kWh of electricity into 1 unit of heat (i.e. they are 100% efficient), boilers won’t. Even a brand new boiler will only be about 90% efficient.
Even though the efficiency of a new gas boiler is not as high as an electrical equivalent, based on the fact it is so much cheaper for each unit of gas, mains gas still wins! It doesn’t make a huge difference to the equation.
>>> Should I replace my conventional boiler with a combi? <<<
What if you can’t access mains gas?
Of course, many properties across the UK don’t have access to grid gas. These households can still run their home on gas, but it will be in the form of LPG (we’ll talk a little more about that below), and will almost certainly be more expensive than accessing it from the mains.
What can you do if you don’t have one of these? Gas Meter
It is more common for households without mains gas access to heat their homes using either heating oil or electricity as the fuel source. Recently there has even been a shift that has seen more people using biomass as a heating source. This has become an attractive option since it includes a subsidy payment for every unit of hot water produced – this is known as the Renewable Heat Incentive.
What is LPG gas?
If you live off mains gas but still want to run a gas boiler, you’ll have to use LPG. LPG is the nifty little acronym for liquefied petroleum gas, and is produced from a mixture of hydrocarbon gases (e.g. butane and propane) compressed to form a liquid. The benefit of compressing the fuel into a liquid is that you can store more of it, and can therefore get away with a much smaller storage tank. LPG tanks can also be dug into the ground so as not to ruin the appearance of your garden.
LPG is a very reliable and versatile heating solution for homes, provided you remember to refill the tank as required! The majority of mainstream modern central heating boilers are available in LPG versions as well as the standard mains models, so if you are used to a mains gas boiler you can be confident in the knowledge that you will get identical functionality.
Is heating oil or LPG cheaper than electricity?
Heating with oil has a cost of around 6p/kWh, whilst LPG is generally a little higher at 7.6p/kWh.
If you need to choose between either of these vs flat rate electricity, then both the LPG and heating oil are going to be cheaper options.
Of course having said that, if you are on an Economy 7 tariff, using a storage heater system and paying around 7p/kWh for the night rate and 17p/kWh for the day rate, the cost of heating with electricity might start to become more attractive. However, due to the increased day cost of electricity any appliance run throughout this period will be higher. This means that you will have to use around 40% of your electricity at night to make the numbers work. This is the primary reason that Economy 7 is not a more popular option.
Is bottled gas cheaper than electricity?
Bottled gas can come in the form of butane or propane, and is typically used with portable gas fires. Costs vary widely depending on the volume you buy, but the typical sizes of gas bottle range from small 6kg canisters to larger 47kg bottles. As with most commodities, the more you buy, the cheaper the cost. But how does bottled gas compare to electricity as a heating fuel?
In this section we are going to look at the cost of three different sizes of bottled gas canister. These prices are all Calor gas canisters (a brand that we reckon most people are familiar with).
So before we start we have to bear in mind two things:
- The energy contained in propane is 46.44 megajoules per kg and
- 1 kWh is equal to 3.6 megajoules
Don’t let us lose you with the maths here!
So for a 6kg Calor gas refill costing £24.50:
6 x 46.44 / 3.6 = 77.4kwh in 6kg
£24.5 / 77.4kWh = 31.6p / kWh
For a 13kg Calor gas refill costing £33.00:
13 x 46.44 / 3.6 = 167.7kwh in 13kg
£33 / 167.7kWh = 19.7p / kWh
For a 47kg Calor gas refill costing £85.00:
47 x 46.44 / 3.6 = 606.3kwh in 47 kg
£85 / 606.3kWh = 14p / kWh
So buying Calor gas to heat your home is a lot more expensive than pretty much any other option, especially when you factor in an efficiency rating of less than 100%. If you can buy the larger Calor containers, you will be paying around the same as electric heating, but due to other options being pretty widely available, we tend to advise people to stay away.
Renewables vs. Electricity
If you can afford the upfront cost, either a biomass boiler or a heat pump could be the best heating option for your home. Both of these technologies are considered renewable sources of heating, therefore entitling them to the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme, which pays the owner an amount for each kWh of hot water produced – more on this scheme can be found here.
A heat pump will generally have a coefficient of performance (COP) of approximately 3.5. This means that for every 1 unit of electricity used it produces 3.5 units of useful heat. So if one unit (kWh) of electricity costs 15p, every unit of useful heat works out at just over 4p. This brings it very much in-line with mains gas heating.
With the biomass boiler, while the cost of the fuel is relatively high, the Renewable Heat Incentive makes this a winner, cost-wise. In one property we saw, the RHI over the seven years equated to £49k worth of subsidy on a £22k biomass boiler install – this was a huge house, but the numbers are still attractive even with far smaller properties.
The FINAL VERDICT – Is it cheaper to heat your home with gas or electricity?
Mains gas is the obvious winner here; it is cheaper to heat your home with gas than electricity, provided you can get it from the mains.
LPG and heating oil are the runners up, with electricity and bottled gas lagging behind in last place. The Renewable Heat Incentive obviously skews these figures particularly in relation to heat pumps which run off electricity, but as you can see from above, if a home is well insulated it will actually be by far the most effective.
We hope that this will put to bed the common misconception that heating your home with electric heaters is cheaper than using a combination of gas boiler and radiators.
Table of heating costs in the average home
- Mains Gas – 4p / kWh
- LPG Gas – 7.5p / kWh
- Heating Oil – 6p / kWh
- Bottled Gas – 14p – 32p / kWh
- Electricity – 15p / kWh
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Could the question of an air-source heat pump be added to the equation? This would require capital upfront to install, but then is potentially even cheaper, especially with government kick backs?
Honestly Ben air sourced do not work, the only system that is any good is the ground based where hundreds of meters of pipe are buried in the ground, which means having land to be able to do this.
Could you please yell me what an air force hat pump is and what government help abailable to have one.
Hi Susanne. An air force hat pump is a specialised piece of equipment used by fighter pilots to counteract the g-forces whilst flying upside down. The pump forces liquid into the pilot’s hat which compresses the skull thereby promoting the flow of blood away from the brain and towards the lower extremities so that the pilot’s feet do not get too cold. Government help is freely available and covers the entire cost of hat installation. I think you may have posted this question to the wrong forum?
Well I’ve learnt something today that I’d never heard of before. Thankyou, glad I’m not a pilot ! lol
Hi Susanne,
They are an efficient type of electric heating, but they require a very well insulated property to run correctly and are very costly to install. The Government has tried to help with the upfront costs by providing the RHI which is a payment for producing the electricity. The theory is that if an ASHP costs about 8-10k to install then the RHI payments will cover this install cost over 10 years, although there is a formula that derives your exact payment based on the heat demand for your property and the seasonal performance factor (basically the efficiency) of the heating system that gets installed.
With electric increases coming in April 22 they are no longer a viable heating source.
We installed ASHP 8 years ago using RHI. With electric increases coming in April 22 they are no longer a viable heating source.
We installed ASHP 8 years ago using RHI. With electric increases coming in April 22 they are no longer a viable heating source. We are going to remove and reinstall either Oil or LPG. Our electricity costs from April 22 will rise £2444 / year compared to Sept 21 when supplier of electricity went bust.
Hi Ben,
Yes an air source heat pump is certainly worth considering. Having said that, you would require a really well insulated house for this to actually be worthwhile since they heat the house at a far lower temperature, so before they are installed you have to make sure heat loss is minimised. As you correctly mentioned though, provided you act on the insulation first – the soon to be launched Renewable Heat Incentive make these a really sound financial investment.
Thanks for this. Do we know where the figures around per kWh are from?
A few questions!!
Firstly when do I go from air-source to ground-source heat pumps? Is it to do with the size of the property? How long before I will get my money back?
I have an electric storage heater- is it better to fire that up or use our oil run radiators?!?
Thank you
Hi Lizzie,
The key differences between air source and ground source heat pumps are discussed here, however put simply the Ground Source heat pump is more efficient – but is much more expensive (about £25k as opposed to £10k for air source.
The install costs for both types of heat are largely covered by the Renewable Heat Incentive, which is a government subsidy paying you for every unit of heat you produce, however finding that much cash upfront is still quite an ask (the RHI is paid quarterly over seven years).
With regards to the Storage heat question – it really depends on whether you are on economy 7 tariff. If so, then the electric storage heaters are not such a bad idea – but a new energy efficient heating oil boiler may trump it. So really it depends on the boiler you currently have?
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Great article! We also get this question fairly frequently & this is a comprehensive response.
Thanks Hayley – much appreciated!
Very informative article. I was going to ask where you felt air source heat pumps fitted into the question, so glad to see it covered in the comments. I came across this article late last year on Building Green called Electric Heat Comes of Age that looks at this.
Thanks for a very detailed article. You gave the most sought after answer by the public in the first paragraph!
I pay 51p a litre for LPG plus a daily charge of 12p. I am looking at having a new Electric wet system fitted. I pay 15.87 kwh for the electric. Which will be the most expensive to run?
Thank you
Hi Rita,
Thanks for your comment. A litre of LPG equates to around 7kWh of energy, so that means you are paying around 7-8p a kWh for your lpg. Of course, your lpg boiler will not be 100% efficient, but it will work out significantly cheaper than an electric boiler, at 15p/kWh.
You could look at combining an electric system with solar PV and/or solar thermal, which would mean you would use far less mains electricity, but for a straight swap you are better sticking with your LPG for now.
thanks for help this simple anwer is what I was looking for I have lpg and was thinking changing to electric will save my money
Hi, I’m interested in your comments about combining an electric system with solar panels. I’m renovating a bungalow from to to bottom and looking at options for hot water and heating. It is a rural area so mains gas is not an option. I would prefer not to go back on oil due to cost and LPG for same reason. The roof is perfect for panels so wondering if this is my best option. Any thoughts? Thanks
Hi Ian,
Thanks for your comment. The good news is that there are so many more options for off grid properties than there used to be. Youve got heat pumps, biomass, solar thermal, infrared just to name a few.
It depends a little on how much space you have and your budget. For around 4k you could install a solar thermal system to preheat your hot water, but you would still need something to get it up to a usable temperature in your central heating system. Solar thermal is a great option because you will get RHI payments as well, so it pays back quickly.
For solar pv to help heat your home, it is going to have to be a pretty large system, as in the winter you will only be generating 20% or so of what you would in the summer. Still, using efficient electric heating like infrared could help keep the bills down while using your solar pv.
If the home is well insulated a heat pump would be a great option, but only for more modern or well retrofitted properties. This too can be augmented by solar thermal / pv.
If you take a look around our site, there is lots more info on these different technologys nd their advantages and disadvantages.
Thanks. It’s a 3 bed bungalow with 2 beds in the loft. I’m looking at good insulation throughout as part of the renovation. I’m considering underfloor heating downstairs and an electric boiler for hot water but no wet central heating system, just some electric rads upstairs or where needed. There will be a wood burner for heating in the winter. Just ideas at the mo but interested to know if it’s worth it…
Ian,
I had assumed you had a wet central heating system already, given you had oil before. I assume you mean electric underfloor? If you don’t want a wet system, you need to look at infrared. It is a simple and elegant solution that doesn’t require a wet system. It will be more efficient than standard electric rads and the cost would be competitive.
Solar thermal for your hot water and potentially solar PV are still good options to complement it.
This article is really very useful and answered many of the queries. Thanks for posting this.
Thanks for the breakdown of both prices, really gave me some perspective .
This is an excellent article. I was always under the impression that electricity was cheaper, I just thought we used gas here because of the North sea. Happy I have a gas boiler now!
Very good article. Some additional considerations with heatpumps, both ground source and air source, is the flow temperature of the distribution system; at a minimum you must use low temp radiators circa 55 degrees or the best solution is to use underfloor heating circa 45 degrees. If you design the UFH for heatpumps you can go as low as 35 degrees. The rooms are all still heated to 20 odd degrees. Low flow temp significantly improve heatpump (seasonal) COP to between 4 and 5. Also the way you heat a house with heatpumps is quite different, best results come from operating the heating 24/7, trickling heat in all the time. This is the main reason that heatpumps only work on properties that are extremely well insulated. If you use solar recharge, pumping spare solar heat down you ground source collector in the summer, you can possibly double you COP. All this means that heat pumps work well on new build but are difficult to retro fit.
Some really good points there Mike – thank you for your comments.
I’ve just moved from a new build house on mains gas to a 6 yr old property running a 2008 Worcester Bosch Heatslave 18/25 oil combi boiler.The cost of running this boiler is £1.70 per hour. (uses 2.75litres phr at 65p per litre.).
So 5hrs per day in winter and 2 hrs a day in summer (for hot water – there is no storage tank) results in a bill of £1903 for heating and hot water in a house with an EPC rating of 80. The mains gas bill was under £500 p.a. in a similar sized property with the same EPC.
When I tried to switch to an air source heat pump and borrow the money from a Greendeal Provider I was deemed ineligible by the Greendeal Assessor because the numbers (from the computer programme!) said I would be £213 per year better off staying with oil. I was so disgusted with the whole fiasco I complained to QUIDOS (who oversee the scheme) who also thought this was inaccurate. The Greendeal Assessor was dismissive and refused to query the result so a formal complaint was the only option.
The result is a refund of the Assessor’s £150 fee but I’m still stuck with an oil bill iro £2000 pa.(because they still insist the numbers are correct!) and for a household with only one person this seems ludicrous
I’m going to disconnect the oil and install a modern electric immersion heater/cylinder for the hot water (which will last me 2 days) and pray the Government wake up to the energy crisis and work out an affordable method of heating a home in winter – a basic human requirement.
By the way – anyone considering a switch might try talking to the Greendeal helpline – don’t waste your time – it is staffed with young poorly trained girls who sadly, haven’t a clue and can’t get you off the phone quick enough -expect to go round in circles – what a shambles.
Hi Karen,
Sorry to hear you have had a bad time with your assessment.
Unfortunately the finance is based on the EPC, and there are lots of limitations to the software. Even if you did have decent savings from switching to a heat pump, it is highly unlikely you would have gotten full finance towards the cost of a switch – you may have received a few thousand with the rest to be paid up front yourself.
Heat pumps are expensive and although the RHI will make them worthwhile in the long run, you will need the initial capital to make it happen – Green Deal or not.
Hi Alan – yes Heat pumps are expensive – £9600 in my case – and I’m not convinced this is the most cost effective solution. Please see my reply to Barry – who agrees with my findings – and is in the business of providing heating. His honesty is refreshing and I’m bowled over with his clarity and openness.
I’m glad you are in the discussion – can you join with me to find a real solution to the costs of heating a home? – we are not always fed the correct information by the Government – they have targets to meet in terms of carbon emissions. Their motivation is to avoid EU penalties. The rest of us are mostly motivated by the need to decrease financial burdens. Being green too – well that would be a bonus – we would all like to contribute to that.. 🙂
Karen
Unfortunately, your article makes a number of mistakes, and fails to give the bigger picture. By my own experience (and I am a gas heating engineer by qualification and trade) for the average home, electric is only marginally more expensive than gas – in the region of perhaps £100 a year more. First of all, let me explain that despite my profession, I went all-electric a few years ago. I did this purely for simplicity (and I hate radiators). Your principle ‘mistake’ is failing to take the considerable costs of gas heating maintenance into account. Insurance and/or servicing and repairs is going to add some £175 to your annual bill. Secondly, you also fail to recognise depreciation. Boilers have to be replaced on average every 10 years (according to Defra – and experience!). That depreciation is a whopping £250 a year. You cannot just take the fuel costs alone when considering actual annual costs of electric against gas. Strangely, you also quote a figure of 15p per kWh for electric. I’ve no idea where you got that – I currently pay just under 11p! (Aug 2014). In fact, I actually pay 9.5p but there is a standing charge which ‘effectively’ takes it to just under 11p. I run a 3-bed detached home for an annual fuel bill of £1740 – all electric. We have four showers a day and keep the heating (underfloor foil type) on as much as anyone would. We have a warm home…with no boiler, no fumes, no pipes, no radiators, no servicing, and no breakdowns. It is simplicity itself to use – which is what I wanted most of all.
The time of gas central heating has been and gone. It is old fashioned, unreliable, troublesome, and outdated. Electric is convenient, reliable, and great to use. I’m afraid your article does nothing to dispel the myths that still surround the electric Vs gas debate, and is inaccurate as usual. It’s a great shame that some people fail to do actual research, and merely trot out the same stuff, whilst not giving the full picture.
HI Barry ,, would appreciate your input ,, what do you think about Infrared heating panels ?
I have a 3 bedroom terrace ,,, wall and loft insulation and double glazing ,, 1980s build ,, solar panels will be added soon
any suggestions appreciated thanks
Hi scruffy, i am installer of infrared in north west Scotland and I have done now well over 50 installs of these things, mainly in holiday homes or barns and cottages. They are very good if they are sized correctly, but be careful there are so many companies out there that are making false claims selling rubbish pieces of kit. I now just install Herschel panels which are in my mind the best. I encourage customers to upsize their heating requirements more often than none, so they don’t get disappointed. There are a few companies out there that you can get the Herschels for a good price. I use Ecostore which I understand advertises somewhere on this site or Infrared4homes. I would encourage you to read more information, there is quite a lot of content on this technology on this website – that is how I found about the technology in the first place. Hope this is of use,
many thanks for your helpfull reply
Hi great site this has anyone ever heard of supergreen uk providing infra red boilers???? was going to have an air source heat pump fitted but the figures of the RHI are misleading . We have no mains gas and i do not want to go back to oil. Many thanks Richard
Hello Barry, you are probably a much younger man than I am, and you have some absolutely splendid and vociferous arguments, but I am going to stop your there with this comment I am afraid: “The time of gas central heating has been and gone. It is old fashioned, unreliable, troublesome, and outdated. Electric is convenient, reliable, and great to use.”
You are probably too young to remember Harold Wilson’s technological revolution or even in the late 70s when we thought nuclear and storage heaters was the way the go. The latter an event I genuinely thought was a game changer.
So I am afraid to be a bit of a disappointment (multiple OPEC crisis later) to this rather colour argument taking place here but I predict gas isn’t going anywhere soon. Fossil fuel costs plummeting, new gas reserves flooding the financial markets will make this a cheaper fuel source at least in the medium term.
As a final point, I have an Ideal Mexico, never breaks down, super little boiler. Never had a leak or any major faults – think I will stick to my gas boiler thank you very much. Good day sir.
I am 81 years old and have to agree with Harold. Sometimes I think people forget our generation and disregard our advice and expertise. My family business used to provide supplies to British Tabulating Machines, one of the pioneering computer manufacturers in Britain and therefore we have always grown with computers in our family, which is why I am one of the lucky few that is computer literate of my generation.
In response to the arguments presented in this blog, while computer science has moved at a rate of knots, we are no closer to ditching fossil fuels, especially gas to power heating in homes and businesses. I went to a lecture at the UCL recently and one of the visiting research fellows in fact showed research to suggest there are reserves to last us another 750 years. I too had a boiler that lasted me 25 years and only recently switched to a combination boiler because I hated the fact I had the cold water tank in the loft. In conclusion, while electricity heating is a novel idea and probably more appropriate to a country like France, I don’t think the good British public is about to part with their gas boiler.
Hi Barry, thanks for your comment. So I think there are a few inaccuracies, firstly a boiler service is not £175! That is quite a high price! I would also dispute that you need to replace a boiler every 10 years – we go into 1000s of properties a month and we see boilers that are 20 years + running quite happily (albeit inefficiently!), so I think the £250 depreciation price is quite toppy too!
I would also be very interested in you energy supplier at 9.5p / kWh of electricity, since I am keen to move to them!!
I do appreciate that electricity has a place in some homes, as you say there is far less that can go wrong, and if you go the heat pump route (provided installed on a well insulated property) then you are looking at efficiencys of 300% plus – far higher than conventional electric heating, but for many (and I would go as far as saying the majority!), gas still makes sense for their central heating requirements!
Hi James, Although i dont agree entirely with barrys comment he raises one vital point and that is just quoting the kwh price doesn’t prove that all electric heating systems are expensive to run for example your gas / Oil boiler may be rated at 30kw and your electric boiler may be rated at 9kw so if they both run for an hour the mains gas boiler would cost £1.20 the lpg boiler would cost £2.25 the oil boiler would cost £1.80 the electric boiler would cost £1.35, so based on that mains gas is cheaper based on those figures but electric is better that lpg or oil. but it is far more complicated than that, are you using a thermal store? do you have solar pv? do you have solar thermal? because the combination of one or all of these things could make electric cheaper than mains gas.
Reckon it depends on the boiler. We did about 10 years almost trouble free with our combi gas boiler, then had to replace at about 12 years. The plumber noting our disappointment told us we’d done well with many boilers needing replacing after about 10 years. Gone are the days of the everlasting boiler that chugs away albeit un economically for 20-30 years. Replacement boiler plus power flush ugh (12 year old rads and pipes), massive job, loads of gunk and expensive even with hubby acting as the plumbers mate. Next property no amount of power flushing could have saved the pipes and rads, It said it was fernoxed but it was still so furred up it couldn’t get hot. The bills paid by the previous owner to keep an increasingly failing system going would have brought the average householder to tears. Hundreds of pounds paid to get tepid rads and water. I was paying £57 per month to take the chill off the place and be unable to have a hot bath. Only you don’t know what it’s costing til the bill comes in. Electricity is easy to cost and only one standing charge. Easy to use, controllable etc. Great if you are a bit of a girl and don’t know one end of a boiler from the other.
James, the £175 is for an annual insurance on the boiler and system. If you don’t have insurance then you could lay yourself open to bills far higher than that! In my career, I’ve had people cry in my presence (no kidding) when I have had to tell them the repair costs to their heating (not my repair costs, I hasten to add, but what a typical heating engineer might charge to get their system going again).
Yes, there are boilers way older than 10 years, I recently saw one that was installed in the early 1960s. But they are rare, James. The 10 years I quoted comes direct from Defra, not me, so take it up with them. But by experience I can tell you that they are correct. A Scottish Government website states 8-10 years! http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2013/01/2702/5
A colleague of mine recently removed one after just seven years, due to a busted condensing heat exchanger (amongst other things wrong with it). So again, I’m afraid that your idea that £250 is ‘toppy’ would be wrong.
My electrical supplier is extraenergy. My last supplier was OVO – again, 11p per kWh., and ScottishPower also charge 11p. Who, with an electric heating system, would pay your 15p per kWh when (at the very least) three companies will charge you 11p?
We must disagree, the only reason that people don’t go for electric is ignorance. No one tells them that, in fact, electric heating is NOT far more than gas. Indeed, it can even be cheaper – when ALL factors are taken into account. People, like yourself, just look at the fuel costs in isolation. You cannot do that. Buying a gas heating system can be like buying a car that does 100 miles to the gallon, whilst ignoring that it will cost you twice the purchase price of another car that will do 50 miles to the gallon.
Gas heating just doesn’t have the controllability of electric heating, so it is inefficient in that way too, not just lost heat to the atmosphere. Lots of people install condensing boilers thinking that it will save them a fortune – it won’t. Condensing boilers only condense when the return temperature is less than 55 degrees C. Many people don’t even know that some boilers NEVER condense! With electric heating you can have individual time and temperature control of EACH ROOM. It is possible to do this with a gas boiler system, but costs an enormous amount more, and is prone to failure (due to the components installed to necessitate full control). So again, electric scores over gas in controllability allowing efficiency.
I say again, the ONLY reason electric systems haven’t yet taken off is ignorance. A heating engineer isn’t going to tell a prospective client about it because the profit is in labour and materials associated with installing a £4000 gas based radiator system. Using time & temperature controlled electric panel heaters, it’s possible to have an electric heating system for just £300! But no heating engineer is going to tell you that…except this one.
Hi there Barry
I am considering gas central heating for my daughters 2 bedroomed terraced house, however I have recently seen these ceramic electric radiators being advertised which seem to suggest that
they continue to heat your property even after the heater has been switched off . One of the heaters I am looking at is EEPC recently shown on Ideal world shopping channel. May I ask for your advice as I will soon have to make a decision on which way I go.
Regards Neil
Hi Barry, so I have to disagree with your comments!
If you were to install a boiler today, you should get a 7-year warranty – that includes parts and labour. That boiler should cost in the realm of £2,500 as you say and I also agree about the boiler yearly servicing costs.
Now the average bill in the home is £1352 per year – with 70% going towards heating and the remainder towards electricity.
If you take the heating bill part of this (approx. £950) with an 80% efficient gas boiler and a unit of gas is 4p / kWh – it would suggest using 23650kWh of gas.
If you used an electric heating system operating at 100% efficiency it would require 18920 kWh of electricity – which indeed is less in pure numbers terms, but at 11p/kWh it would actually cost in excess of £2,000 per year.
As a result, you would save significantly each year using gas. Even if you had to install a brand new heating system (at £4,500) – it would still pay back and make more sense to go for gas.
You must be heating houses with the windows missing !!!! My 3 bed semi with 4 adults uses 8400kwhs of gas a year , my electricity usage is 4000Kwhs with 3.25kw solar system and 9000 mile electric car usage. its a 1950s house but band C EPC. I want to replace my 14yr old condensing combi switching to a cylinder. I scrapped my gas oven for electric fan assisted and gas fire for a wood stove.my aim is to come off gas completely as my summer standing charge is more than the gas , using a cylinder as a heat dump for the PV would replace the combi . the next addition would be more PV or solar thermal to provide the additional load.
Hello James. Your 7-year warranty is a little selective. Glow-worm (for example) have a 3-year warranty on the ‘Easicom’, a 5-year warranty on the ‘Ultimate’, and a mere 2-year warranty on all their other boilers. And anyway, James, that’s on a boiler, not the system.
Let me give you my own figures:
To be precise, my annual bill is £1759
£422 of that is lighting & cooking
This leaves £1337 for my heating & hot water – using 12160 kWh @11p/kWh – not your 18920 kWh. I would say my home is ‘average’ being a 3-bed detached with typical insulation.
Now, if I were to use gas to heat, I would need more than 12160 kW. Indeed, I reckon 30% more. This accounts for a 80% efficiency boiler, but ALSO accounts for losses of efficiency in over-heated rooms (due to the lack of control against a time & temperature-controlled electric system). This means I would require 15796 kWh of gas.
Uswitch give a typical gas price of 5p per kWh (Nov 2013)
This means a heating cost (under gas) of £790 (15796 X 5p)
I accept your warranty on boilers, but a system insurance policy will cost, say £16 a month (source: Calorserve 3, Care Plan Plus, Prestige Silver Care), that’s £192 IN ADDITION to the gas fuel cost of £790
= £982
But we’re not done. Despite the insurance, there are things they don’t cover, AND they have caps on claims, AND they limit the number of yearly call-outs. So every once in a while you will still have to pay out despite your insurance. Let’s pick an arbitrary figure of £100 a year.
So now we’re up to £1082 a year for gas.
But we’re still not done.
Let’s not forget that boiler depreciation. You would need to save £250 a year to replace it.
So now we have £1332 a year for gas.
Remember, my electric heating & hot water bill is £1337.
So James, I say that that you wouldn’t save on going for gas. But there’s more of course. With an electric system, you won’t get the breakdowns, you won’t get the risks, you won’t get the horrible steel radiators, you won’t get the lack of control. With electric, If one room fails, you still have heating everywhere else. It’s quiet, 100% efficient, and TOTALLY time & temperature controllable. Despite my professional gas background and qualifications (and it has given me a good career), I would never touch gas again. Let’s be generous to you (as I too have been selective) and say that a gas system might work out a couple of hundred pounds cheaper a year. I STILL would rather have electric – for the sake of a couple of hundred pounds. It’s far ‘better’ than a conventional gas heating system in so many ways. But as I have shown, even the economics of gas (which would give it an advantage) can be shown to be false.
We will have to disagree, but all I can assure you of are my own experiences – at the sharp end of heating systems, day in and day out, and my own electric heating system and its costs. My annual electric heating bill of £1337 gives me a delightful ‘system’ that is warm, silent, and so easy to control. During the Winter it comes on and off all night, keeping the floors warm, and a pleasure to walk on. Even if it were twice the price of a horrid gas heating system, it would still be worth it! But as I have shown, it isn’t.
Hi Barry, I can see you are a big believer in electricity!! As a final point from me, I have looked at the average price for gas and electricity as per DECC’s domestic energy price statistics from December 2013 – where gas is 4.21p/kWh and electricity is 13.52p/kWh. This has huge impacts on the figures you have quoted above and in fact swings it well into gas’s favour. Now I know you can obviously find cheaper electricity and gas than this, but it does show some flaws in the logic above – you have picked the cheapest electricity and the most expensive gas! I honestly do believe electricity isn’t a bad alternative – but perhaps it isn’t quite as good as you are making out!!
I have just had a look at Uswitch and can’t find any electricty at 11p!
Gill.
Go to uswitch site
Fill in relevant sections
Choose ‘variable’
Choose ‘extraenergy’ as your preferred supplier
Where there is a small question mark under your proposed savings, there will be your annual personal projection of costs
Click on it
Now click on ‘show calculations’
Now click on ‘show calculations’ under your new proposed supplier
Under ‘electricity unit rates and calculations’ it will show you your use in kWh and how much you’ll be charged in pence per kWh. Mine is 9.11p per kWh.
Uswitch isn’t as easy to use as it looks, you have to look on the site for the right places to click. You can shortcut by just going direct to extraenergy’s website. But there are others, like OVO, who also charge 11p per kWh.
Never choose Extra Energy as your preferred supplier!
I have just come across this topic while searching for heating solutions for a house needing renovation.
I am trying to compare how much the cost could be for a complete heating and hot water system as there is no gas supply in this area and the house doesn’t currently have any heating other than open fires and a rayburn.
I was considering the option of solar panels and installing electric heaters and under floor heating as opposed to paying out for an oil tank, boiler and all the plumbing work involved. It sounds like the ground source heat pump could cost the same as solar panels and only provide heating, whereas, the solar panels should provide the majority of the electric in the home including running the electric heaters – or in our climate would that not produce enough electric for this purpose?
Any suggestions greatly appreciated. Also Barry, very interested in what electric heaters you use?
Hi I have had a company called Climastar who do electric heating and hot water system. There is not a boiler as it comes off the mains, through a box that sits on the floor in a cupboard. Lovely radiators, neat and aesthetic. I would be pleased to hear if anyone on here has experience of this type of heating.
Tracey.
In my home I used Warmup Foil underfloor heating coupled to simple room/air thermostats. It has been superb. I initially made the mistake (on the first room I did) to fit an all-singing, all-dancing clever air thermostat. This proved a nightmare to comprehend, and it had its own learning system that started to override the settings(it is supposed to do that). So I removed it, and as I have fitted the heating to every room I have fitted standard thermostats. During the Winter we keep the heating on permanently (on set-back) – which may make our electric heating figures even more astounding!
As for a standard electric heating system, then I would recommend the Dimplex 3072 2kW convector heater. They cost around £38 and come with thermostat and timer! The legs can be removed so that it fits to the wall. Don’t buy any panel heater more expensive, as underneath they are almost all the same. For your hot water, I would recommend either a standard immersion heater cylinder, or a mains-pressure type, like an Albion Mainsflow Contractor Electric. Your plumber would have trouble tracking one down, as the Albion list of cylinders is complex. In either case, fit a timer to the immersion so that it only heats for set periods.
As for solar panels, you would need a massive array to provide your complete home need, and for my money, the payback period is way too long anyway, but that’s another argument entirely!
Thanks Barry – I’m going electric – everything you say backs up my own research. In the event of a power failure in rural Wales I have an LPG gas fire and with an immersion heater and a tank full of hot water I think I’m going to be all set for winter.
Thanks – you really have made a difference. Will you help me get this information out to the general public?
James:
Above at August 26, 2014 at 5:05 pm
No reply button.
I didn’t pick the gas price – it is uswitch’s typical gas price as of November 2013 – I just Googled ‘average gas price’. I did choose the cheapest electric price – obviously(!) as it is for my home – which was my point. Why would someone (wanting to heat their home with electric) choose anything more than the cheapest price they could get, James???
So I just re-did the figures above with your gas price of 4.21p…the calculation comes out at just £125 less than the 5p I quoted. Hardly much of a “huge impact”, is it James, and hasn’t swung it back into gas’s favour, I think!
Hi Barry, I was simply demonstrating that the values you selected obviously showed electricity in a more positive light. For example you have now used the AVERAGE price of gas, and there is now a greater argument for gas – imagine, if you used the cheapest gas available, the argument would be even greater!
No James, it wouldn’t! The spectrum band on gas is tight. Let’s say the cheapest gas price you might get is 4p. The spectrum band on electric is wide – from 9.5p cheapest to double figures. The difference is therefore negligible. I have already shown you that reducing gas from 5p to 4.21 makes a difference of only £125 to the figures, mate! And please stop twisting the debate: I have used the ‘average’ price of gas all along. I pointed out that uswitch say it is 5p. Please re-read my posts for confirmation. Please retract that I have suddenly started using the AVERAGE gas price. Just because you get yours from DECC and I Google it to get it from uswitch doesn’t make either of us correct, necessarily, as both are out of date by 9-10 months. I have been very careful to show my sources throughout our discussion. They are industry, government, and trade data – only MY figures on MY system are my own.
This is a very useful article thank you. I am not sure I agree with some of the comments above though, mainly because mains gas is far cheaper than electricity, but I do appreciate Barry’s comments re: lower maintenance costs.
James Crow.
You cannot take just the fuel costs in isolation – that’s where the authors of this article are going wrong too!
Look, imagine you wanted a new car. Now, running your car on electric rather than petrol is far cheaper. BUT, an electric car is more expensive to produce. So it isn’t about the fuel cost when it comes to a car – as electric is much cheaper than petrol – it’s about how the car uses that fuel, and the severe costs of a new battery-pack in later years. This is what has stopped the idea of mainstream electric cars.
I say again, and then I’m bowing out, look at the cost of the whole thing, not just the fuel. My electric heating has no maintenance, no servicing, and is guaranteed for 15 years – so there are zero costs. I don’t need to go over again how much a gas-based heating system costs. You cannot just say, ‘Oh, gas is cheaper than electric’. That is too simplistic.
Interesting comments here by Barry. So in my country, which is Serbia electricity costs are I think same as the UK, but incomes about 7 times lower. In general I think in the EU electricity is expensive and may in the UK you are luck it is so cheap. However I think there is a trend for more people to be moving to gas or district heating. In my town more and more people are getting connected to gas and seems to be the way europeans are heading. But never less good support for electricity, even though I wouldn’t use it for heating personally.
Hi- loved reading all the articles about gas versus electricity. We live in a rural area and have lpg gas which can be very expensive. We have replaced the boiler and installed a drayton thermostat to adjust the temperature during the day. Added extra loft insulation and double glazed the windows. We use the electric immersion as a boost along with the lpg boiler and have a couple of 500 watt to 1000 watt panel heaters in some of the rooms to take the chill out of the room rather than turning the radiators on.We also installed a 5.2 kv solar panel system and changed electricity suppliers to a cheaper deal from 16p to 10.18. Our lpg gas was 68p a litre but we currently pay 44.10 though this will start to go up.
Basically we are trying to find the right balance as lpg was our biggest outlay and we reckoned that by using electricity a bit more it could be the lesser of 2 evils. So far we are ordering gas less frequently and the electricity bill is down but appreciate that this could change soon as the solar panels will produce less and it will start to get colder.
Very interesting reading as we have electric storage heaters on economy 7 at a cost of 4.2 p day and 15p night. As we use 65% at night (I put my washer on over night ) However we currently have a duel fuel cooker that has a gas hob and now that often have imposed a standing charge our gas bill will increase by £80 as a low user we only use approx £15 per year gas. We are now wondering whether to change to gas heating or get an all electric cooker and do away with gas. Like Barry I do prefer electric it is clean and maintainable free and as my husband is an electrician an obvious choice. Our yearly bill is £1100 per annum and as we are retired at home in a warm home a 3 bedroom semi. After reading all the pros and cons I think we will stay as we are the cost of changing cannot be recouped.
Or you could get bottled gas for your hob, as cooking on gas is so much nicer than electric in my opinion.
did u know u can get an energy supplier that doesnot charge a ny standing charge ..might suit u
I am currently interested in comparing the price of heating hot water by economy 7 electric compared to heating with gas particularly for bathrooms. We have a bathroom that is very remote from the boiler and I worry that particularly in the summer I am wasting great amounts of heat with hot water going from the boiler to the cylinder. Unfortunately it is old pipework so insulation is very difficult.
I was therefore thinking that having a new electric cylinder with an economy 7 immersion heater located in the bathroom, which means that pipe runs would be very short, would be a good way to go. I could then change the gas boiler to a combi to heat up water for the kitchen and downstairs loo on the rare occasions that is is required.
What do people think? has anybody else swapped just water heating from gas to electric and how did it work out?
thanks
Graeme
Hi Graeme,
This is an interesting question. My feeling would be that the money you are losing via the lack of pipe lagging isn’t actually as high as you think. Water has a high specific heat capacity, and therefore won’t lose much heat travelling from the boiler to the cylinder. Assuming your cylinder is very well insulated, I would be surprised if economy 7 is cheaper to run.
You must consider that even at night, the best economy 7 tariffs are around 6.5p/kWh, whilst your average gas price is around 4p. If your boiler is reasonably efficient (80% or more), it would take some serious loss of heat via lagging to make those 2 values level out.
The most important factor though is that if you use economy 7, you are going to be paying more for all your daytime appliances. You will be paying 16p+/kWh to watch TV, light your rooms, run the fridge etc.. Our golden rule is that unless you will use more than 40% of your electricity at night, economy 7 is always more expensive. Most people use 20% or so at night, so chances are, even if you immersion works out a fraction cheaper, everything else is going to more than cancel it out…
Don’t rush into switching your system, you will be in for a surprise, and not in a good way!
Howdy all. Loving the healthy debate in here!!!
Barry, we are doing renovation at the moment and are seriously considering going all electric. Out of interest with your setup do you have a storage tank for the water or is the electric bioler on-demand?
Also in your opinion is is worth going solar (pv) to assist with the electricity usage?
Hello Dr J. sorry for the long delay replying – haven’t read this site since August.
We don’t have an electric boiler – I wouldn’t entertain the idea. We have electric underfloor heating. So for our hot water, we have a hot water cylinder with an immersion heater. But ours is a mains-pressure one. It costs us £219 a year – 60p a day – in daytime electric, and we get four daily showers from it.
I wouldn’t touch solar PV either. The mathematics are false. No account of lost interest is taken into account (you had £6000 sitting in an account which you have just spent, so you’re losing £150 before any income!), and there is no mention of the £1,000 inverter you’ll need in 10 years, so again that’s £100 a year you have to knock off your income. So that’s £250 off the income figures before you even start to talk about maintenance, repairs, and the reduction in your house value.
Hi Barry,
The mathematics of solar aren’t false! 500,000 have solar pV on the their roof so it would be strange that some many people went ahead with it if that was the case!
If you install solar PV, we recommend going for micro inverters, these last longer than the inverter you are talking about above and also increase kWh produced (if there is any type of shading on the solar system).
The Feed-in tariff gets paid over 20 years – so if you can get a 3kW system on you roof and produce 2,500kWh you will get paid £470 a year based on the export tariff and generation tariff (all tax free). This does not include any energy savings! Now agreed it is unlikely you will be able to use all 2,500kWh even if you have a solar diverter installed, but still you should be able to use 80% + .Combine the savings and the income and you get over £700 a year – paid over 20 years, the income is tax free and that doesn’t take into account the rising costs of electricity!
Also not sure where the ‘reduction in house value’ comes from!
Hi James
500,000 have got it because of the incentives given by the government.
This is paid for by the rest of us in taxes and in my case because I am all electric
by the charges added to electricity bills which is far higher than other fuels.
Hello James.
2,000,000 people read the Sun every day, it doesn’t make it the best newspaper. A return on investment has to be within a reasonable time period. In my opinion, the return (if you ever get one at all) is far too long. I’ve seen ads stating a return of 7 years, which is just absurd. Micro inverters, as I understand them, mean an even larger capital cost, and add to the system’s complexity (due to the number of them), and therefore add an unreliability & repair cost factor.
Now, your 3kWp system:
Figures from solar energy companies just cannot be trusted. It’s like asking a car salesman how much mpg you’d get from the car he wants to sell you. So I just went to the Energy Savings Trust website and added some typical figures into their solar calculator.
40 degree roof angle
Facing south
Slight shading
£35 a month electricity bill
2,102 kWh generated
Capital cost £6,430
Total earned over life of system £5,255 (therefore £210 per year)
Remember, this is the Energy Savings Trust – a PRO-renewable organisation. The figures you give are for ideal conditions, which simply aren’t typical, and take no account of degradation of the panels – a 20% decline. And here’s the punchline…the Energy Savings Trust take NO ACCOUNT of maintenance charges, like replacement of the inverter at £100 a year, nor do they take any account of loss of interest on the capital invested! So let’s do the maths:
Capital cost £6,430
Return £5,255
Inverter every 10 years £2,500
Loss of interest on capital £4,019 (2.5% per annum)
COST of project therefore £6,519 (not savings, not profit, COST)
In perfect conditions, solar panels might return you some money after many, many years. In typical conditions they won’t. If you don’t like that, then take it up with the Energy Savings Trust.
House value:
http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-2130985/RICS-warns-house-hunters-buying-homes-free-solar-panels-fitted.html
Hi Barry – thanks so much for your comments.
I have just tried to replicate your findings in the EST solar too. In fact I tried to make the results worse (more shading) and came out with only 2084kwh using my postcode.
It gave an annual income of £419 – although this did include money saved on bill of £69. So not sure how your figures were so low?
There are a few points though. 2084kWh even at your 9p/kWh electricity cost is a £187 annual energy saving. This is obviously if you use all the electricity which is unlikely, but there are tools out there that help you use 85% +. Also the microinverters mean that shading can now impact individual panels without impacting the whole system – but the key here is since they are not exposed to as high power and heat loads as central inverter, they also tend to last significantly longer, and in fact many come with a 25 year warranty.
Finally – your last link to ‘free solar’ is obviously different – because the feed-in tariff is being paid to the installers! They ‘own’ your roof!
Anyway appreciate your comments!
Barry,
The figures dont take into account the rising cost of electricity either – don’t tell me the per kwh cost in 10 years is not going to be more than what you are paying at the moment. They’ve more than doubles in the last 10 years…
If you are paying 9p/kWh, good for you. I can’t get less than 12.5p myself. It does depend on your postcode somewhat as well.
Alan, do you REALLY think that electricity prices will rise in the way they have in the past decade? They are right on the edge of being politically unstable – being that they would be a major political issue. Oil prices are tanking at the moment, don’t rule out $60 per barrel. Gas prices will fall in the next decade. Coal is abundant and cheap. We are also on the edge of new discoveries in renewables with graphene. Nuclear fusion may only be 10 years away. All of these will make future energy prices either the same as they are now, or possibly even lower. All we have to do is shake off the insane idea that we can effect climate, then coal can be used again – and it’s cheap! So yes, I am telling you that electricity is not going to be more in 10 years (except for inflationary pressures – so your £500 electricity bill will be £672 in 10 years).
I think electricity prices will increase as there has been under investment in generation since the privatisation of the CEGB. Coal power stations are being phased out due to being at the end of there life, they have not been built for decades. Hinckley point is going to be selling us power (8% of UK demand even at night) at £100 a megawatt hour. More people like me make there own power (3.4MWhs last year) and i will be adding more. as i am an electrical engineer.. Burning coal is not going to happen. Unless you want to fund it I do not
Like DR J, we are renovating a holiday cottage. It has a 4mx6m living room and one 4×3.5m bedroom. Kitchen and bathroom are approx 3m x 2m. We currently have economy 7 night storage heaters and an electric emersion heater for hot water.
We do not like the current bulky heaters and want a heating system that can give heat quickly if required and is not on if the room is warm – during the summer.
I am seriously considering an electric boiler system as the property is mainly occupied in the warmer months and in winter mainly by us. We will also be installing a wood burning stove.
Can anyone recommend an electric boiler and what is the best way of heating the rooms – underfloor may not be an option.
Thanks in advance
Hi Michael,
I would just point out that if your storage heaters are on in the summer and you don’t want them to be, you can turn them off! Even older storage heaters can be turned off so they don’t charge overnight.
The problem with an electric boiler is that you will be heating your house on the expensive day rate electricity, so whilst you will have a bit more control over the exact temperature of the house, expect your bills to skyrocket, even if you switch over to a single rate tariff.
Heat pumps may be a better option if the home is well insulated, or modern slimline quantum storage heaters that enable better control of temperature. I would not touch an electric boiler with a stick – you are effectively paying to run a huge kettle all day. You will be paying a fortune.
Aren’t there are other factors to take into consideration like installation costs, annual servicing and maintenance? A new condenser boiler costs upwards of £5000 to install. They are not very reliable and have an average life span of only about 7 years before they have to be ripped out and replaced. An annual boiler service costs over £70. Repair costs are astronomical requiring you take out an additional £250 a year for comprehensive breakdown cover. And how does a new gas installation that requires new radiators and extensive plumbing compare to electric? Finally, if you have electric you can take advantage of Economy 7 night time tarrif which brings the KwH cost much more in line with gas. Clearly, there are are many more considerations when you’re doing the sums.
Sam,
7 Years is definitely not the average lifetime of a boiler. 12 years is the guide we use, and having done thousands of surveys I can say that ripping a boiler out after 7 years is very unusual. Some boilers like the Baxi Platinum now come with 10 year warranty these days too. Which negates the need for your £250 breakdown cover too – at least for 10 years.
£5,000 is about right, but that is a one time cost. Even if you need to put a new boiler in 10 years down the line, it will not need new rads and the cost is going to be closer to £1,600.
Economy 7 does make things cheaper, but most tariff start with a night rate of 7p or so, compared to 3.5 to 4p for gas. Plus you are going to be paying much more (16-20p/kWh) for your daytime electricity as well – any additional heating, tv, washing machine, cooking etc etc. Unless you are incredibly careful, or a night owl, it really doesn’t compare to gas.
Alan…except it isn’t 16-20p/kWh, is it? I’m still paying the 9p/kWh that I was in August – HALF what you’re stating.
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Anyone have any direct experience with whole house Infra Red Heating?
Hi I live in a two bed flat and have gas central heating and I am paying £94 or a year as a standing charge whether
I use the gas or not . Would it be cheaper in the long run to have my gas capped and just buy a couple of calor gas fires as I only use the gas maybe three to four months a year. Mike
Hi Mike having jus read your post I think it’s the case that nearly all leasehold flats in England and Wales have a clause prohibiting lpg/profane bottles within the building and in tower blocks it is normally a criminal offense to take gas bottles into the building. Sorry if this is not good news but I think you would need to check thev situation for you building before making your decision.
Being in a similar situation in the past I found a couple of dynamic (fan) storage heaters and some extra insulation was a very cost effective and comfortable solution.
Good luck with your decision.
Steve
Hi mike,
Calor gas is incredibly expensive, around 10 times the price of mains gas in some instances. I think you would be shocked how much it costs you if you use it as a main heating option.
I have not read all the posts but Barry has some very valid points.
No one seems to compare the installation and running costs which are a lot higher for gas/oil lpg etc.
Also with oil and lpg you have to have to have tanks and associated cost.
Also if you are renting out property you have additional safety certificate costs.etc
Safety is also an issue with electricity having no combustion problems.
You also have more options for siting boilers/heaters etc; with electricity.
A well insulated property with modern controls etc; should be able to use electricity as a viable alternative
to other systems.
Barry F – a load of rubbish RE: running costs and install. I am both a plumber and a qualified electrician. By the time you factor in the size of radiators, types, thermostatic controls, the costs quickly rack up. In fact they can be even more expensive than pipeing and radiators. Most gas boilers have a lifespan beyond 15 years with little maintenance thereafter if installed by someone who knows what they are doing. My brother had electric radiators fitted in one of his rental flats and two of them have already broken down, not to mention the fiddly electronic controls that come with them, that is impossible for the average punter to get their head round. Electricity prices since I last checked are 3 times that of gas – just look at 99% of tariffs that are currently advertised on uSwitch.
Having read all the posts I agree with Barry and Barry F that if you take all the associated costs into account then electricity is a viable cost effective alternative to gas.
It also give you a 10 year peace of mind warranty with no service issues or worries and that is priceless, no stress, no workmen in your home for repairs and no days without heat throughout every room in the house.
This is the way forward for me.
Hello,
We’ve just bought a 3 bed cottage. Part is an extension. Solid, very thick walls. We’ve got a multifuel stove in the living room and some old, inefficient storage heaters.
It’s freezing so we were planning to get central heating put in but we’re off grid for mains gas. Have been considering all other options. Love the idea of using renewable sources but think air source/ground source wouldn’t be suitable due to age of property.
Considering a wet system with a biomass boiler, LPG versus a modern electric system (probably dry). The two electric options would be infrared or http://www.ecopowerheating.co.uk/. We had the latter in our last house and they were very good (hot and cheap to run).
Are you able to give any advice in terms of which would be cheaper long-term including the massive set-up costs of a wet system? We both work and so are out most days until late so actually feel like perhaps the electric dry system would work out cheaper long-term due to long installation and low maintenance costs. We could then invest in solar panels too.
Do you have any experience of the infrared heaters and how warm they make the house feel?
Also, if we go with an electric system – what is the most environmentally friendly and cost-effective type of boiler to go for? And would solar thermal be an option with one of the governments green deals?
Many thanks for your advice and for making such a comprehensive website!
Tara
Just been reading all your facts and figures about prices of gas and electric and how much each one cost to run and service for me it’s just a load of rubbish , I go for electric any time from my experience with my gas water heater going bust day before Good Friday and again two weeks before selling my house talk about Sod’s law I would rather pay higher electric prices than expensive boiler repairs anytime
Ok here’s my thoughts, not sure how I got here as I was reading up about triple glazing, but stopped for a quick read and some very thought provoking posts. I’ve been in the gas heating industry for some 30 odd years now both commercially and domestic. Eventually setting up my own business 20 years ago, now I’m not going to argue either for gas or electric heating I’m not even going to produce a running costs argument as there are so many facts and figures to take into consideration it is virtually impossible to arrive at a concrete figure which applies to everyone. As an example to heat a 3 bed modern semi in London is going to be cheaper to heat than a 3 bed thatched cottage on Dartmoor, how much hot water is consumed in a day is another. My house is empty all day as we are out at work, so our heating is on for no more than 2 hours in the evening. The point I am trying to make is, is that everyone’s demands and requirements are different. I don’t even think we have an average family now as people come and go, work odd hours, even work from home which of course is going to put up your heating costs.
Having said all of the above, 4 years ago I set up an electric heating installation company, being 100% honest with you it was the best thing I ever did. On average I fit one gas boiler to eight electric boilers, from originally covering just Central London I now cover over 6 county’s. I’ve also had to take on additional installers and office staff. I do make random enquiries with clients to check that they are happy with the work and also to check with their running costs, the customers that convert from gas to electric tend to average out having to pay an additional £150-£200 pa those where we install thermal storage units the additional costs are negligible depending on which off-peak tariff they are on. The one guarantee I give all my customers who have an electric boiler installed, is that they will never have an issue with carbon monoxide…….. By writing this I am not suggesting either electric is better over gas, electric isn’t suitable for everyone but then again neither is a ground source heat pump if your over 65 or you intend moving home every 5 years or so….
What if I live in a house where the gas is pumped through an Independent Gas Transporter (IGT) and not directly from transco. They seem to charge a fortune. I live in a very small home on my own and in the winter months it is swallowing more then the Electric. About £3 a day which for one single person in such a small home is really high. I thought about the cost of converting to electric.
£3 A DAY = £1100 a year
you have two things to consider – environmental and financial
in environmental terms electric heating is a disaster – unless you have a well insulated house and a heat pump. At around 15p per kwh it is also expensive if you are talking about storage heaters or electric radiatiors
You should get a professional advice on what your heating requirements are, either through a Green Deal Assessment, or by asking a good renewables installer to give you a quote for a heat pump – as part of that process they should give you a heat loss calculation for your building.
Get three quotes from installers – use Yougen.co.uk to find a well recommended local installer to you.
The take the most conservative performance estimate from the installers for payback versus your current situation, then make a judgement call.
Using the Green Deal to pay for an installation is probably marginal – if you have either cash or the chance of a low interest loan / mortgage extension use that instead
Oil or electric wet heating system? I am about to install a heating system in a new well insulated large 4 bed house with underfloor heating downstairs and conventional radiators upstairs. My idea is to install a 4kw solar pv system to heat a large water storage tank with a 35kw boiler kicking in when the water drops to a certain temperature. Can anyone tell me if a electric boiler at 14p pkw is cheaper to run than a oil boiler at 55p p ltr .
I love my poorly insulated barn conversion, but the LPG boiler flues into the chimney and is 20 years old. The only place I can install a new gas boiler is in the downstairs cloakroom. This just about squeezes past the Listed Building Consent requirement, but it is not an ideal position. My plumber said that I would need to install 2 electric boilers and 2 fat cables if I went for a electric boiler. I also read somewhere that I would need to check with the electricity supplier that the system would be appropriate for the supply. (a bit vague here) I have 10 radiators on 3 floors. The previous owners just ran individual electric floor standing heaters and I am beginning to understand why they went for this option. I just cannot get the information to make an informed decision. Very cold at the moment thought.
We had propane in a previous house coupled with eco 7. Much cheaper to heat water and space by the eco, but the problem with night storage, even with the newer heaters is that if you open the dampers in the morning, the damn things give out minimal heat in the evenings. Then we moved to where we are now. There was an electric boiler coupled to a wet system. It was a woefully inadequate 6KW. Cost a fortune to run, as needed to be working on day electricity and hardly took the chill off the house (Well insulated, by the way) There is eco installed. No gas here, so switched to oil. Oil is about 40p/litre now, at 10KWH/litre and boiler is 84% (checked recently), so useful KWH is about 4.75p. So I do not use the eco for water heating in the winter.Summer time may be different as the boiler has to firstly heat itself before it can heat the calorifier in the tank, hence lower efficiency, so might be different in the summer. Get Barry`s point about service costs, just paid £110, but that included a new part that only needs replacing infrequently. By the way, Barry, when calculating costs for oil/gas you forgot cost of running pumps/fans etc, which helps your case for electricity (Don`t know where you live but here in Cornwall,I much doubt if I could match your KWH cost) Interesting debate–keep it going!
I am about to build a 2 bed plus 1 bathroom extension to my house. All ground floor. I have an old 30 year old 80% efficient boiler at the orher end of the existing house, but will not be able to extend the system to the new extension. I am 80 years old and have had rheumatoid arthritis for 35 plus years, so I need an adequuate heating system. At present I am hovering bewteen airsource heating and electric floor heating, but I also have access to a 47kg propane cyclinder source, but feel that tha might be too expensive. All advice gratefully received. Obiously very helpful disvcussion here.
We have an old 3 bedroomed stone built cottage. It currently has night storage heaters it is used as a holiday home. In the summer this is fine. However when we visit in the winter it is unbearably cold. One plumber has just suggested oil filled electric heaters on norm tariff instead of the economy 7 that we have now. But my husband seems to think these are inefficient and no better than the night storage we currently have. Another has suggested a wet central heating system. Some people seem to be suggesting that they are hopeless. I had been thinking of underfloor heating downstairs but then what about upstairs. Our hot water works from a heater in the bathroom upstairs. The plumber who suggested the wet heating system said that the water heater would be eating money. Any advice?
Hi, I am a pensioner and currently use a coal fired Rayburn for my heating and hot water and a coal fire and central heating (from the Rayburn) in the living room. My usage is around 4-5 Ton of anthracite and 1/2 ton of ordinary coal along with a couple of ton of wood (max). My coal cost is approximately £420 per ton(Anth) plus 2 bags(Ordin).
I am considering going Electric but have no idea what costs I should expect, I believe I would need to change Electric Tariff also as I am on a normal supply contract for Electricity.
My house is 2100sq ft 3 bed Living, Kitchen and Dining Room, one bathroom and one En-suite (Electric Shower.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Hi Ben,
Try Brivis ducted heating heating, the gas ducted heating has a cheaper capital-to-cost installation and cheaper to run because these are now up to 6-star systems that can be zoned really well.
Rachel,
As Ben quoted costs in ‘£’, I think he lives in the UK, not Australia.
Hi, interesting reading all of this!
I am on oil (no gas in the area) my oil bill in 2014 was £9.000! 5 bed, + garage flat, garage as well (to keep the motorbikes warm)! This year so far it’s about £6.000. includes hot water.
I am thinking of getting solar panels fitted to my barn roof (enormous) and buying either a Bosch BPT-S5 Hybrid Solar Storage 4.4kWh to 13.2kWh or Samsung ESS residential system. Do you have any information on how much these systems cost to install or whether they will work in the UK climate?
I could go for ground source as I have a field to put it in, but the house is 1976 built and I’m worried about the insulation…or the lack of it to be precise! Any information would be of use please, fed up with salesmen trying to sell me stuff that won’t work in my home. Thank you.
I have a 2 bed semi-detached house that I rent out – a typical 2 up 2 down near Canterbury, Kent It has not got gas in the area so limited on heating choices, at the moment it has a log burner running rads in the bedrooms and bathroom, couple of storage heaters 10+ yrs old and a couple of oil filled rads. I am interested in other methods of heating especially if I can get the rhi so anything I install will pay for itself and is practical and economic for my tenants – what do you recommend?
We are not currently connected to the gas pipeline and have been quoted £7,000 by SGN to connect us. We have a small three bed property that is well insulated and is heated with oilfilled radiators. What we are keen to understand is the pay back time of intalling the gas and boiler, compared with continuing with the existing arrangement.
It occurs to me that it may be some considerable time before the capital costs are covered by the revenue savings?
Hi Chris, so £7,000 is certainly too much if you are just looking at it in purely a payback point of view. However, research shows that having gas installed at your property can increase the value of the home. If you are on electricity only, try looking at Infrared heating panels for an efficient heating system, or even Heat Pumps.
I am appalled at the picture you have chosen to use showing an LPG bulk tank. The installation is dangerous, covered and surrounded by vegetation as it is. No company would fill that tank in its current state, it also needs a good clean and re-paint. I thought at first it was an example of bad practice, but apparently not. Also bulk LPG is not a mixture of butane and propane, it is propane only.
UKLPG Codes of Practice say:
No part of the storage vessel should be located directly beneath any part of the structure of the premises or extension from it, for example roof eaves, car ports, etc., nor beneath overhanging tree branches. Weeds, long grass, deciduous shrubs and trees, and any combustible material should be removed from an area within the separation distance in column (a) of Table 1 (for vessels not exceeding 1,1 tonnes LPG capacity, or within 6m (for larger vessels).
A gas tank can be buried under ground with no problems.
Calor do offer a service where they bury LPG tanks for £1500, the tank is then completely hidden from view – the only thing that is visible in your garden is a green cover (size of a drain cover) that provides access to allow the delivery drivers to refill the tank.
Hi Dennis,
I am sorry you feel this way! This was a picture taken at a property we visited.
After reading this entire thread I feel the need to add my typical everyday, young, working family’s worth (me, the wife and son.)
I moved into a new build semi detatched house in January 2008 so quite energy efficient.
I had a vaillant pro combi boiler running 8 radiators and the on demand hot water required for showers, baths etc, I sold the property recently and now looking at properties off mains gas which is concerning me (but like the properties)
Whatever arguements are put forward for best heating and overall costs, I owned the property for 7 years and in that time my gas bill for running the heating and hot
Water never exceeded £30-£40 per month (£420 per annum average) a boiler service £60 per annum and 1 single minor boiler repair costing £120 in total ,(minor leak.)
Never a worry of how long heating is on over the timed hours morning and evening in winter. I would say the majority of people have many trouble free years with a gas boiler, very controllable with radiator trvs, thermostats etc and yes it does maintain or add value to a property!
The fact is energy efficiency of the properties structure will always reduce overall heating costs whichever fuel is selected this is the key, but I don’t think an electric system will cost equal or less than a gas equivalent assuming a reputable high efficiency boiler with good warranty is installed. I’m not commenting for arguement, it’s just a purely for the average person and my experience.
Ground source heat pump possibly, air source heat pump average cop of 2-2.5 in UK costing more than gas, and lastly I would personally rather spend £5000 installing a good gas central heating system than£16000- £25000 for a ground source heat pump system offering similar returns in cost. In the end it’s all down to personal preference but cost wise I’d be extreamly surprised to see electricity win in the next 10 years!
Maybe I won’t purchase off mains gas after all……….! Lol
Hi Stephen,
Agree with your comments, my only thing to add would be for heat pumps / biomass you get paid the RHI which over the seven years can more than cover the cost of installation – but everything you have said is absolutely fair!
i live in a 2 bedroom bungalow with economy 7 heating which can be upgraded to biomass system heating with wood pellets.
is it going to be any better or best stick with what ive got.
thanks
Steve,
Biomass will definitely be worth looking at, as there are some very generous subsidies, and the cost of the fuel will be cheaper than electricity. The important thing to note however is the initial up front cost, which will be high, and the upkeep required for biomass, as it isn’t a ‘fit and forget’ system like storage heaters.
How would a wood/ coal burning rayburn heat system and log burning fires compare to LPG heating does anyone know?
Thank you all for your excellent arguments. We come down on the side of Barry and Electric heating(no gas areas) for the following reasons:
We have replaced both oil and LPG with economy 7 storage heaters in three/four houses over 20 years. A 4 bed detached, a 2 bed bungalow (retired parents), a 5 bed detached old house and a 1990 3 bed holiday home. In all cases when the boilers failed we considered all options. In all but the holiday home we decided on night storage for the reasons outlined by Barry, no maintenance, initial outlay of system etc. in the following year of electric installation the bills against both oil and LPG were LOWER. In addition the houses were uniform ally warm all day and all evening. The houses were moderately well insulated, I the large old house we also used a log burner for cold evenings. In the holiday home we installed low voltage underfloor heating (Step Warmfloor ). This was expensive to install, about 5000 pounds in 2006, but very economical to run and lovely and cosy. There is a thermostat for each room and when empty, we set it at 6 degrees at night and 14 day to prevent freezing or damp. We moved in there for 2 years and again it was warm and economical. I note that previous bloggers are supporting their arguments by calculations, in my experience it is too difficult to control for multiple variaBles such as kW cost, usage profiles, number in home, insulation levels, maintenance, inflation, size of windows, thickness of curtains, etc. etc. My argument is based on actual experience, the same people living in the same property in the same way with the same power company over at least 3 years of oil/ LPG followed by 7 years of economy 7 or standards tariff for holiday home. So now we have bought an old tiny uninsulated bungLow, still off mains gas. We have serviced the existing 15 year old oil boiler which serves 5 radiators and will run it until it gives up. There is also a small log burner which we have serviced, so we have already saved installation costs of new technically efficient systems. For the extensions which are bigger than the existing bungalow we are considering underfloor electric heating and infrared heaters – thank you Barry for your recommendations above. However not economy 7 as we found over the past four years that the increase in day rate was not balancing the decreased night rate – the day rate underfloor was more economical. We will install PV panels, sorry Barry, as the 6000 pounds invested will give a better return than the banks or an expensive kitchen. So that is our experience, electricity has to be the Fuel of the future as it is supported by the direct input from sun, wind, nuclear, wave, tidal barriers, microgeneration etc. etc. As the efficiency Of the generation systems improves as it surely will, electric heating will be supported by the green establishment and governments too.
hello. I use a large wood burner to heat a 1500l water tank that feeds my hot water needs. However its not always convenient and I want an alternative
I am considering two options:
a) Installing an oil boiler to heat either the tank or do my central heating when required. I already have the oil tank in position from previous occupiers.
b) Installing an electric boiler to run on economy 7? At night, this time just to heat the tank
Which would be the better option? Any advice would be very much appreciated
peter
hi I am moving into a granny annex it will only have three radiators a heated towel rail and hot water in the kitchen. Can you advise me of the cheapest way to heat this property.
Thanks.
I have a 2 bedroom terraced house l have electric boiler where can l get quotations for gas and boiler installation
I’m converting an old studio into living accommodation – bedroom, wet room and kitchen/diner/sitting room. We have no mains gas. In the main house we have oil central heating and bottle gas cooker hob. My husband and I differ on the studio heating system, my husband favours bottled gas central heating – then no cold water tank needed, but I favour electricity – electric radiators / shower etc – what thoughts ideas? Thanks
Electric can work well in some instances – but we would always recommend Mains gas if you have access to it (have you investigated whether this is possible?). If not and you do opt to go the electricity route, then you have two options, the first is storage heaters which take advantage of economy 7 or infrared heating. Infrared heats area instead of volume so is an efficient way to heat with electricity. One of the great things about using electricity to heat the home as you mentioned is that you can isolate particular rooms and just heat them (unlike a boiler for example which even if you want to heat one room still needs to fire up).
Also with electric heating you won’t need to run any pipework so the install cost will be substantially cheaper. In answer to your question, I would definitely recommend electricity ahead of bottled gas central heating – but whatever you decide to do, insulate the hell out of your house will doing the conversion, then it won’t require much heating anyway!!
Hi
I m moving into a new property, too far away for mains gas, I have been reccomended rointe heater which are electric, or an electric boiler, what recommendation do you recommend,
Kind regards
Anne
Please can you advise me? We have a family holiday home in Anglesey,with an oil central heating system.
We are just about to put central heating into a boathouse in the grounds sto accomadate extra family and we can’t agree which is going to be the most cost effective- bottled LPG Or Oil?
We know oil is cheaper but and this is abig part of the family argument,mother a new gas boiler is literally half the cost of an oil one to buy and install.
The boathouse will only be used intermittently ie school holidays and in fact very little during the winter months at all.
In the main I suspect whatever we use will mainly be for heating water.
Can you advise whether, for the long term we are better to pay more upfront and install an oil fired boiler( with the cost of an additional oil tank) or settle for A gas boiler using the large Flogas type LPGO bottles?
If you could reply asap it would help as we are hovering on the brink of deciding!
Many thanks
Neill Clark
I have a large property in a very rural area so no mains gas. It’s an all electric Economy 7 system but I have found it is the cheapest system I’ve ever had. My total bill is £900 a year, all the heater, water and cooking, much cheaper than other properties I’ve had on oil/mains gas and LPG.
you are a blessed man Richard
Hi. I need fair advise regarding heating system. For my whole life I use gas as a fuel for central heating and hot water and in kitchen. Now I am planning to buy a property but it has oil heating system and electricity for cooking. I can use gas bottle for cooking, but I am totally new to oil central heating. Can anyone tell me is it affordable ? Cheaper or equivalent to gas central heating ? Is it possible/advise able to change it to economy 7 electric heating ?
Please advise me. Thanks.
We moved into our property in 2005 and immediately had gas installed to the property, along with gas central heating. At that time the only boiler protection filters in place were on industrial units – at the time it was not envisaged that metallic sludge from the radiators would damage the much more sensitive condensing boilers. Anyway, two boilers and numerous breakdowns later, along with numerous leaking radiators probably caused by us turning radiators off and on to save money, and a total outlay of six to seven thousand pounds, I wish that I had stayed with storage heaters and off peak electricity – and am seriously thinking of going back to them as my son is an electrician and I am fed up being ripped off by the Gas Safe industry.
i am an electrician and i see what you mean, I am on my second combi , yes gas is cheap but gas has a standing charge , add the depreciation and maybe a maintenance contract and you have spent a lot of money. and if you have a power cut or breakdown no heating or hot water. I have fitted a DEFRA approved wood stove which was great for the 3 days my 14yr old combi was awaiting repair. Next is a twin immersion hot water cylinder for a solar power dump so i still have hot water. Some cylinders have a 25yr warranty. I Have fitted electric showers for people who could not afford a boiler repair/replacement. At the end of the day gas is on your property but can be cut off by the supplier as has happened to some of my customers where i have been there to connect the immersion heater on the cylinder.
Please can someone tell me whether so called town gas (which I think is LPG gas stored in a central storage tank and then piped directly to your home but metered) is much more expensive than just bottled gas and more expensive than oil fired heating
We already have a 4 yr old Worcester bosch boiler in our newly acquired house but is there any benefit at all to changing?
Obviously the cost of removing a perfectly good boiler and replacing it with a gas one seems a bit extreme- but that aside can anyone tell me that stored gas is going to be much more expensive?
Thanks
I
@Fiona Clark: “Town Gas” is methane, or “Natural Gas”, not the propane/butane mix that is LPG. Methane is often liquified and transported in bulk carriers as LNG (Liquified Natural Gas). As the article suggests, Mains Gas is about 4p / kWh and is a lot cheaper than bottled gas which costs between 14p – 32p / kWh, depending on the size of bottle.
The calculation for electricity cost here is almost certainly incorrect. Whilst it is true that the kwh rating is about 15p during the day, the calculation here assumes that no thermostat is operating. I live in a house with a EPC set at E; which is very bad; but I have been using electric oil heaters and the yearly bill is about £800; which is about the same as my previous house for oil heating and electricity combined. That house also had much better glazing and insulation generally. So the motto of this story is that electric heating can be about the same as oil, perhaps a little less. Also, if the thermal insulation of a house is significantly improved, the different between gas and electric becomes increasingly smaller. If one then also joins up with a green electricity supplier, an “all electric” house can be near zero emissions. It would help then if the myth about the cost of electric heating be dispelled and help create a greener more sustainable future.
Solar panels, appropriate thermostats and controls, cheaper electric central heating boilers with better reliability and far less servicing, good thermal store system and judicious use of high consumption of household gadgets, top-notch insulation, full LED light installation all help to reduce the cost of electricity.Yes , there are upfront costs. I wonder if people using “cheaper”fuel are less careful with how they use it?If no mains gas get advice about a properly installed electric central heating boiler.My electrician told me recently that there is talk in the industry of the Department of energy thinking of gradually eliminating domestic oil and gas systems in 15-20 years time . I can’t verify this however!I suppose this may depend on decisions about the potential disaster that is shale gas.Potentially far more devastating than nuclear.Insulate to the very best that you can.
I am trying to compare the cost of heating 180liters of water to 65deg between my oil boiler and electricity.
Can you help please?
The article is fairly decent but considers efficiency of a gas boiler only – so when making the heat. What about the heat transport and storage? How much is the heat loss in all the insulated and uninsulated pipework in a house? E.g. pipes coming from the boiler to hot water storage cylinders and radiators hidden either in walls and ceilings. Another 10-50%? Don’t forget that the gas boilers also use electricity, need costly servicing.
Someone should really do up an article that compares the cost of running a completely electric heating system vs gas and include all heat loss, set up cost, servicing… etc. How much do you pay to have your gas boiler checked every year? Will you need to replace it in 10 years?
What choice of green electric suppliers are on the market please?
Esther, Ecotricity, Ovo Energy and Green Energy are a few that spring to mind. One important thing to note, the way your home sources the power will not necessarily change as it is usually provided via the closest power station – coal, gas, nuclear or wind for example. Just depends then where your home is located in proximity to the closest power station. However, by going for a green tariff you will ensuring that some of those proceeds go towards re-investment back into renewable and clean energy sources.
Do these rates take into account the off peak rates of electricity such as economy 7?
For a rental property I am considering electric because of the lower maintenance costs. Boilers need an annual certificate, pipes and rads are prone to leaks. Of course, I’ll still need a water system but it’s less complicated without water heating.
My son has bought a 2 bedroom electricity only flat and it’s expensive to heat during winter,there are 5 ceramic lined radiators, each one is obviously independent and uses electric to heat a room so we have 5 rads each using power at whatever the kwh rate is, where as a single gas boiler heats all the rads from a single heat source. also why is electricity so bloody expensive compared to mains gas!
There a huge claims that District Heating Networks are lowering the cost of heating a home. However the some comparisons are based on the customers heat meter that includes the heat loss from the heat transfer and other causes.
Before anyone makes judgement measure the energy required to heat water. Surprisingly some HIUs need as much as twice the energy as traditional methods therefore the savings are unfounded.
Oddly Heat Protection schemes operated by ‘experts’ do not declare the weaknesses of a HIU therefore the comparison is unfair
Do not use LPG if you can help it. It has been so expensive compared to oil and this is considering all the price differences over the last 15 years. People converted as they thought it would be cheaper on paper but I live in scotland and anyone who has had LPG invariable converts back to Oil or even electric (with a wood stove).
Very useful guide. Never knew electricity we do expedient.
You haven’t addressed Warm Air furnaces and who would be qualified on of those uplow furnaces if and when one was needed to be installed. This would be run off Natural Gas.
Why doesn’t this entire article mention the Feed-in Tariff……? You have a whole section dedicated to it (https://www.thegreenage.co.uk/tech/feed-in-tariffs/) but don’t seem to have mentioned it here at all…. I think a lot of people considering electrical heating would do well to know all the financial options available!! Not just a skim!
what is a p? as in 4p/Kwh
pence! £0.04.
In addition to the ‘efficiency’ of the boiler one needs to consider the ‘control-ability’.
Typically a boiler heats all radiators. Radiators can be controlled by temperature – i.e. thermostatic valves. It is now possible to use smart radiator controllers (fitted with TRV’s – thermostatic radiator valves). This will enable several settings for each valve – i.e for living area valve. 21c from 7:00 tp 9:00 then 16c from 9:00 to 16:00 then 22c 16:00 to 22:00 then 16.5 from 22:00 to 07:00. Different settings for each bedroom – i.e. master bedroom, children’s bedroom and guest room
I have a 2 bed holiday flat in the uk which is used 5 days a month in winter and part of most weeks in the summer. It has a large tank with an immersion heater. We are about to decide whether to buy top end storage rads or go with a new combi boiler system. This will cost in the range of £4500, whilst the new rads will cost around £2100. In the long run I cannot work out whether we should go with gas or electricity.
Any advice???
Does your energy calculations include daily standing charges?
I would love to see this updated to include two further relevant factors: the cost of the heater/boiler (amortised over its expected lifespan) and the cost of annual checks (gas) and repairs/maintenance. I for one seem to spend a fortune on servicing/repairs and then there is the cost of the annual safety certificate. All of these are costs that should be taken into account.
Hi, At the moment, my house is all electric and I only have 2 old storage heaters that work. My question is, is it cheaper to have a new storage heating system put in or should I be looking at some other form of heating? Im on econ0my 7.
There is no gas mains connected to the property.
T.I.A.
I am on a dynamic electricity tariff (Octopus Agile) so my unit price for electricity varies from 35p/kWh to negative pricing where I am being paid to use electricity. Obviously if the unit price is 0p/kWh or negative it is cheaper to heat with electricity than gas. At what unit price would it become equal to heat with gas or electricity? My gas cost 2.56p/kWh and I have a non condensing boiler (I’m guessing around 60% efficiency). Would it therefore be 2.56x(100/60)=4.27p/kWh?
How do the running costs of electrical and water underfloor heating compare?
Isn’t it annoying that articles and comments threads like this do not have a date displayed. It is Oct 2021 and I have a failing gas boiler and do not want to replace it with another gas one due to concerns about the environment. When restling with the other options – such as electric wet boiler system, whole house infrared panels, air source heat pump – it is so hard to know where the current technology is and what current thinking is when there is no date to any of these debates. Technology moves quickly, options are proved or fall to the wayside and gas and electricity prices change with time. I’d love to know what advice is best for NOW, and I don’t want to be at the mercy of salesmen trying to sell their option above all others.
Having had an Air Source Heat Pump for 8 years using an RHI grant to install replacing an oil fired boiler, due to hike in Electricity prices they are no longer a viable option. Our annual usage of electricity from April 22 will be £2444/ year more to than from Sept 21 when original provider went bust. We are looking to replace the ASHP with either LPG or Oil.
The green directive is now dead in the water.
two of us live in a small semi. We have gas central heating and are considering changing to solar panels. Would we save any of the difference cost between gas and electric if we also changed our boiler to an electric combi?
I (unhappily) have had to accept a new electric fire in my dining room as my husband didn’t feel safe with the old one. Granted, it was VERY old and needed replacing. With the energy charges having gone up so much, I’m worried sick about what it’s going to cost to run, I have just watched my smart meter figures go up rapidly, just for the same amount of heat as the gas fire produced….scary!
I have a question on this subject. Now that standing charges are going up I’ll be paying £180 a year just to be connected to gas. I also pay £250 a year breakdown insurance and servicing. Would I be better off getting my gas disconnected and heating with electricity if taking into account the £400+ saved before I even use a therm of gas?
I have a 6.93kWp solar set up consisting of 18 x 385385w panels, its an east and south facing set up with a 30 degree pitch and an estimated yield of 5565 kWh. I have 7.2kWh battery storage along with a Solar I-boost to compliment my water heating. I also have an EV charger (Zappi) that I charge my EV with often on solar.
I am on Octopus Agile with a price up to 35p per kWh and a daily charge of 21p. My gas is via Octopus with a daily charge of 27p and 7.28 kWh. I also utilise Octopus outgoing.
My question is would it be better for me to bin off the gas boiler for an electric boiler that would still maintain my hot water and central heating system. At the moment I have a gas combi boiler. I would be in a position to remove my property from the gas network saving on the standing charge etc but then the risk is I would be totally reliant on electricity
Does the price of gas per unit include the standing charges and other charges such as vat? I use piped gas for heating only and only during the months of October to March but I pay the standing charge and other charges all year round. Does this make the piped gas uneconomical?
This is hilarious – air source heat pumps are a government scheme to funnel cash to the already comfortably off. No way you can have this if you live in a flat. you wouldn’t even be allowed a solar panel on the roof if you lived on the top floor! The 17p day rate for electricity on economy 7 in 2018 makes me laugh too as up in Aberdeen you would have been lucky to get the night rate for storage heaters at 17 pence kWh back then. The day rate would have been around 25/26 p a kWh. More now though.. Also no chance of changing to other suppliers or getting a cheaper single rate for all electricity as many have a restricted meter’s like Total Heat with Total Control’ which became unaffordable years ago. The icing on the cake is both these restricted electric meters now have Standing charges of 54 pence a day each! Needless to say I have switched off the immersion heater and never use the storage heaters. Just heat one room in winter now and only from November to mid-March or so. May have to cut back on heating this year though!
If you have a flat, heating the whole flat tends to cost a lot with Gas Central Heating..
Surely if you just wheel a Calor gas heater around to the room you are in, and heat that, it would be far cheaper..?. I was paying roughly £270 a quarter to heat my flat. The only other use is to heat my water, and that is minimal..
Great tips, I can’t speak for the home but we’ve recently installed LPG gas in our warehouse with some help from these guys: https://www.robinsonsfs.com/services/commercial-lpg-boilers/
Honestly, we’ve noticed the difference in price within a few months.
Do you know the unbelievable power of solar photovoltaic cells? I did some research online and also figured out that this modern technology can actually assist produce electricity! Would like to hear your thoughts on it.
So much for Barry’s prediction that ” Gas prices will fall in the next decade. Coal is abundant and cheap. We are also on the edge of new discoveries in renewables with graphene. Nuclear fusion may only be 10 years away. All of these will make future energy prices either the same as they are now, or possibly even lower”.
January 2023 electricity @ 34p Kwh that makes Barrys all electric bill now £5,220 per year – Whoops !
If the government removes the energy price guarantee in April 2023 and the price of electricity remains at todays unsubsidised price of 62p kwh it will double again to £10,440 a year – double Whoops!
Electricity is such a brilliant and verstile form of energy with so many and varied uses that it should not be wasted for direct heating.
Gas on the other hand has only one function – you burn it to give heat, so the two uses in the home are – heating and cooking.
To make 1 kwh of electricity in a power station it takes 3+ kwh of gas hense the price difference, why convert gas to electricity at an efficency of 33% in a power station just to waste it for heating when you can convert gas to useable heat in a condensing boiler at over 90% efficency, pure insanity!
Air source heat pumps are also very problematic, at the moment we are going through a very cold spell (-10 night before last) the problem with heat pumps is given away in the name, the are “Heat Pumps” if there is no heat outside to pump indoors you waste electricity and freeze.
I have seen this first hand before I retired, an office block was all electric with air source heat pumps giving cooling in the summer and heating in the winter, all was great until a prolonged very cold spell, then very little/no heating, it only took a few days for the building temperature to cool to an unacceptable working temperature.
The management without taking advice first went out and bought in all the electric fan heaters they could find and issued them to the staff, that then overloaded the main incoming electricity cable and **POP** darkness no heating, no computers nothing.
The electriciy supply company were NOT amused!
Think I will stay with gas thank you.
Obviously someone did not research the photographs that appear on your webpage of the gas meter and LPG tank, the gas meter has several installation faults and the LPG tank covered in foliage is a fire risk. It may be appropriate to use some photos of installations that are correct and pose no safety related issues.