Is Electricity usage more expensive than Gas usage?

iah

I have recently done a comparison on Uswitch and generally speaking, electricity was about 80% more per KWh than gas.

I searched for dual fuel options and specified in the questionarre beforehand that I use gas central heating and a gas cooker. I wondered whether the gas came out cheaper per KWh than electricity as the tarriff is suited towards my usage (cooker and heating) and therefore is biased towards cheaper gas.

Is this the case or is electricity simply more expensive regardless?

If it is more expensive, then I think it is worth asking which is best to use out of gas and electrical appliances with regards to saving energy and money. Electicity may be more expensive, but could a KWh of electricity consumed produce more usable energy than a KWh of gas. So for example an electric cooker may consume 10KWh to cook a meal wheras a gas cooker may consume 20KWh.

If anyone knows a little more on this or would like to add thoughts, please do.

Cheers

iamesbo

Electricity is far more expennsive than gas, I believe about 3 times the price or more?
Maybe it is just 80%, but if you think about it, some power stations run on gas, so they have to buy the gas and then build and run a power station as well!! Plus there are losses making electricity (similar to heating a gas kettle) and distributing the electricity.
Anyway looking at my bill gas is 2p-3p per unit whilst electricity is 8p-10p so electricity is 3-4 times more expensive.
No amount of extra efficiency is going to make up for figures lilke that.
Also the heat 'lost' will actually heat up your home!!
On the example you gave for the cooker gas is still about half the cost.
So stick with the gas and get rid of your electric kettle and get a 'whistler"!!

Cardew

Whilst I understand what the OP means, electricity costs approx 400% more than gas. e.g. gas 3p for a kWh - electricity 12p. If it were 80% more electricity would cost 5.4p.

For heating - central heating or plug in heaters - and hot water, electricity is for all practical purpose 100% efficient.

Gas boilers providing CH and HW have an efficiency varying from approx 50% for a very old boiler to approx 90% for a modern condensing boiler.

So in terms of heat provided electricity will always be much more expensive than gas, between 200% and 360% on the figures above.

For cookers it is much more complex as the important factor is the amount of heat 'lost', but there is little doubt IMO that gas will be cheaper for most cooking applications.

An exception might be boiling a kettle. An electric kettle is very quick and little heat is lost, where a kettle on a gas hob is slower and a lot of heat goes into the stove itself. However we are only talking about fractions of a penny.

Also as said above, heat is not 'lost' as it warms the house.

iamesbo

Yes you will probaly find a gas kettle or cooker is more efficient at warming your house than your central heating because it has no 'flue' to heat up the outside air, however that does mean they reduce the oxygen in the room which would be dangerous if used for anything other than cooking. So plenty of gas cooked hot meals, which warm you as well as the house!!

amtrakuk

iah wrote: »

I have recently done a comparison on Uswitch and generally speaking, electricity was about 80% more per KWh than gas.

I searched for dual fuel options and specified in the questionarre beforehand that I use gas central heating and a gas cooker. I wondered whether the gas came out cheaper per KWh than electricity as the tarriff is suited towards my usage (cooker and heating) and therefore is biased towards cheaper gas.

Is this the case or is electricity simply more expensive regardless?

If it is more expensive, then I think it is worth asking which is best to use out of gas and electrical appliances with regards to saving energy and money. Electicity may be more expensive, but could a KWh of electricity consumed produce more usable energy than a KWh of gas. So for example an electric cooker may consume 10KWh to cook a meal wheras a gas cooker may consume 20KWh.

If anyone knows a little more on this or would like to add thoughts, please do.

Cheers

There are a number of factors to take into consideration to answer your question, lets list a few;

Gas increases the vale of your property
Gas is cheaper then Electricity
Electric only will mean higher bills
New condenser combi boilers are the most flexible system
Gas is more efficient then electric

- Gas increases the value of your property -
It is perceived that a Gas supply is a asset to the value of the property. This is due to the raw price of gas being about 1/3 the price of electricity, therefore KWh for KWh Yes gas is cheaper. But when you take into account the hidden costs (Breakdown insurance and depreciation) you could easily ad £30 a month to your gas bill.

-Gas is cheaper then Electricity-
As most electrical systems have fewer moving parts to go wrong and don't require an annual check, they are inherently much more reliable than Gas systems , due to this there is no reason to have breakdown cover. In addition the appliances have a much longer predicted lifespan then a modern combi boiler. The depreciation is negligible, for example a convector heater or oil filled radiators are available for about £30-£40.

-Electric only will mean higher bills-
True per KWh, but you only have the heating on for 3-4 months though out the colder period. Modern On Demand water heaters or electric showers only use the energy required. Modern induction cookers are 98% efficient compared with older electric "Rings" that are about 60% efficient. Gas is 45-50% efficient.

-New gas condenser Combi boilers are the most economical system-
This depends how much of an outlay you are willing to spend. You can go down to your local DIY warehouse and see condensing combi boilers for about £400. It has been proven these will give about 5 years trouble free use. As the british gas advert suggests. "How long can you last without hot water or heating?" OK you might have it covered under breakdown care but can you wait, a further 1 to 3 days without heating or hot water before the engineer attends and then a couple of days before parts are fitted? If you're boiler needs to be replaced, expect a bill of about £1-3k to replace a combi boiler (by law has to be replaced by a CORGI registered engineer).

Final note, electric is 99.8% efficient at the point of use where gas is variable.

WEEZE210_2

So which is cheaper to cook with Gas or Electic, cookers that is?

savemoney

Gas is cheaper too cook with

amtrakuk

I would tend to agree, it depends how much you cook. I believe gas is 40-50% efficient as most the head radiates round the pan, electric ring is 60% efficient, induction is 90-95% efficient as the pan itself heats up not relying on conduction.

But as you peeps said above electricity is 2-3 times more expensive per KWh

blooshoos

I am a student living in a flat, we are currently trying to leave it to the last minute to turn on the central heating. The problem is I have to sit and do work for hours at my desk in my room infront of 3 big windows so it gets v cold. My mum has offered to buy me some sort of electric heater that i can turn on when im working to keep me warm but im worried that this will be really expensive.

So my question is this: would it be cheaper to just turn on the central heating and have that running all day to heat my room up or would it be cheaper to have an electric heater that i only use for 3/4 hours at a time?

Thank you in advance!

Magentasue

Thing is, blooshoes, you would probably start to feel cold very soon after you turned the heater off - 3/4 hour won't heat the room up for the whole evening. As soon as you open the door the heat's going to disappear.

Why have the heating on all day? Why not just when you're in and cold?

blooshoos

Magentasue wrote: »

Thing is, blooshoes, you would probably start to feel cold very soon after you turned the heater off - 3/4 hour won't heat the room up for the whole evening. As soon as you open the door the heat's going to disappear.

Why have the heating on all day? Why not just when you're in and cold?

Well, dont radiators take ages to heat up? We have the heating on one hour a day at the moment because we have to to stop the pipes freezing, but I cant notice if the radiator is on or not for that hour, my room is still jst as cold. I don't need the heating on in the evening from about 19:00 onwards because somehow the flat is warmer then, not sure if the flat below put their heating on and the warmth carries up to our flat :P.