Any experience running a home on just electricity? Are costs much higher than GCH?

Wantaflat

Hi All,

I'm considering a property where everything runs on electricity, including heating. I don't know anything about these things but have read that electricity is much more expensive than gas so if all energy runs on electricity I'm worried I'll end up paying crazy sums on utility bills.

Does anyone here have an electricity only home who might be able to offer comparisons with GCH where energy bills are concerned, and do you have any tips for managing energy bills in a situation like this?

Are there any (other) obvious pros or cons vis-a-vis GCH?

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts!

HappyMJ

Wantaflat wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm considering a property where everything runs on electricity, including heating. I don't know anything about these things but have read that electricity is much more expensive than gas so if all energy runs on electricity I'm worried I'll end up paying crazy sums on utility bills.

Does anyone here have an electricity only home who might be able to offer comparisons with GCH where energy bills are concerned, and do you have any tips for managing energy bills in a situation like this?

Are there any (other) obvious pros or cons vis-a-vis GCH?

Thanks in advance for all your thoughts!

Gas v E7 storage heating and hot water.

Costs about the same really. You will have a generally colder house though. People with gas central heating tend to use the heating more. As long as you turn the temperature down, keep the windows and doors closed, keep the output closed (turned down) at all times (except when you are actually in the room), never use a convector heater on peak day time rates for more than 30 minutes per day then the costs are about the same.

sheffield_lad

Wantaflat wrote: »

Hi All,

I'm considering a property where everything runs on electricity, including heating. I don't know anything about these things but have read that electricity is much more expensive than gas so if all energy runs on electricity I'm worried I'll end up paying crazy sums on utility bills.

Does anyone here have an electricity only home who might be able to offer comparisons with GCH where energy bills are concerned, and do you have any tips for managing energy bills in a situation like this?

Are there any (other) obvious pros or cons vis-a-vis GCH?


Thanks in advance for all your thoughts!

I would never consider a house without mains gas for the cost reason & the inconvenience compared with gas. As a cost comparison it really does come down to if you are using E7 or not. If you are NOT on E7 the average cost of a 3bed semi is around £1250 with gas and £2000 for the same property on standard electric.

What I mean by convenience is with gas you have great control, if however you have E7 and say storage heaters you need to keep an eye on the forecasts in order to manage your costs.

GL

rogerblack

It depends on the insulation.
It is quite possible for houses with similar external appearance to vary by a factor of 5 in heating need, depending on the level of insulation in the walls, draft sealing, and similar.

Having said that - E7 can be extremely inappropriate if you are not in the house much of the time, and have an unpredictable need for heating.

chanz4

Electric used to be cheap, now its about the same

macman

No, standard rate electricity is about 300% more than gas per kWh. If E7 is available (the OP doesn't confirm this rather crucial point), then this will brng the cost down a lot, but it's still more than mains gas.

HappyMJ

howee wrote: »

I would never consider a house without mains gas for the cost reason & the inconvenience compared with gas. As a cost comparison it really does come down to if you are using E7 or not. If you are NOT on E7 the average cost of a 3bed semi is around £1250 with gas and £2000 for the same property on standard electric.

What I mean by convenience is with gas you have great control, if however you have E7 and say storage heaters you need to keep an eye on the forecasts in order to manage your costs.

GL

Over the past 3 years my house has been heated by standard electricity and the bills have been nowhere near that much.

Entering the figure of £2,000 into UKpower using 75% night usage gives usage of 5,000kWh day and 15,000kWh night. That is very high usage. It's much more than the comparable gas house would be using at 3,300kWh electric and 16,500kWh gas.

Electric is 100% efficient where gas heating is not so less kWh are used with electric to get the same heat.

macman

HappyMJ wrote: »

Over the past 3 years my house has been heated by standard electricity and the bills have been nowhere near that much.

Entering the figure of £2,000 into UKpower using 75% night usage gives usage of 5,000kWh day and 15,000kWh night. That is very high usage. It's much more than the comparable gas house would be using at 3,300kWh electric and 16,500kWh gas.

Electric is 100% efficient where gas heating is not so less kWh are used with electric to get the same heat.

Correct, but that doesn't make up for the price differential if you are heating an all-electric house on standard rate. At best the efficiency gain might be 20%?

HappyMJ

macman wrote: »

Correct, but that doesn't make up for the price differential if you are heating an all-electric house on standard rate. At best the efficiency gain might be 20%?

At best???...well my (non condensing) gas boiler is about 58% efficient at heating hot water and 78% efficient at heating the room. The average of the 2 figures being 68%. To convert 16,500kWh into heat outout on electric you'd multiply by 68% to get about 11,200kWh of heat....the rest going out the flue as waste....that's a 50% efficiency gain...adding that to average electric usage of 3,300kWh and it's only about 14,500kWh. 75% at night, 25% day. Then enter that into a comparison site and pick the best tariff and it costs £1,200 with EDF blue+ price promise. Entering 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh standard electric gets £1,140 with EDF blue+ price promise.. It's only £60 a year cheaper having gas which is spent on the annual maintenance and regular replacement so no savings whatsoever.

A.Penny.Saved

I've done both and I would never use electricity to heat my home out of choice, it's just far too expensive in comparison with Gas. While heating using electric, my home was freezing cold and 4 to 5C lower in my lounge than when it was heated using Gas for the same spend. The lounge was the warmest room, the upstairs was around 8C during the winter!

I don't understand why anyone would voluntarily choose electric to heat their home.

My advice, don't do it!

macman

HappyMJ wrote: »

At best???...well my (non condensing) gas boiler is about 58% efficient at heating hot water and 78% efficient at heating the room. The average of the 2 figures being 68%. To convert 16,500kWh into heat outout on electric you'd multiply by 68% to get about 11,200kWh of heat....the rest going out the flue as waste....that's a 50% efficiency gain...adding that to average electric usage of 3,300kWh and it's only about 14,500kWh. 75% at night, 25% day. Then enter that into a comparison site and pick the best tariff and it costs £1,200 with EDF blue+ price promise. Entering 16,500kWh gas and 3,300kWh standard electric gets £1,140 with EDF blue+ price promise.. It's only £60 a year cheaper having gas which is spent on the annual maintenance and regular replacement so no savings whatsoever.

It clearly works for you then, but for the average person with a more efficient boiler it would not.