Gas/central heating vs electric

rtho782

Rather than having gas installed where it does not already exist, consider an air source heat pump, which will give you better per-room temperature control, the option of air conditioning in the summer, and cost about the same to run as gas (as it's way more efficient, 3.5kW of heat can be pumped in for 1kw of power)

Bear in mind gas will mean an additional standing charge as well.

Tiexen

I bought a 1 bedroom end terrace house with no heating - so I went for air conditioning (Mitsubishi Hyper Inverter) 1 outside unit feed multiple inside units - I only have 2 - ground floor and bedroom heats/cools the whole house) heats at around the same cost as gas and in the summer your lovely and cool, for water I went for an unvented cylinder immersion heater (no cold tank in loft and mains pressure hot water) I don't have economy 7 so leave it on all the time (very well insulated.)

- my current electric bill is £45 month (dishwasher everyday, washer/dryer once or twice a week electric oven/hob most days)

Although I did the opposite in the bathroom and went from bath to shower only.

Ben84

onomatopoeia99 wrote: »

Given the difference in cost per kilowatt hour between electricity and gas (typically threefold), it is always the case that electric is more expensive, even with economy seven..

However, you need to factor in the standing charges to be hooked up to the gas. For small properties, even more the well insulated ones with limited heating needs, those standing charges can really eat in to the savings. Also you should factor in the yearly maintenance that people usually do with gas boilers. These two combined are a lot of money spent each year before you even light the boiler, and can make gas a surprisingly expensive options for flats/houses with minimal heating needs.

Luckysprite

Gas all the way.

I had 2 bed flat new build with 5 electric radiators. They were supposedly energy efficient and expensive. They could be controlled via Wi-fi and an app in the hole to save money. I replaced the original ones when I moved in.
I was spending £3000 a year on electricity.

I now live in a 3 bed 60 year old house with gas boiler heating central heating radiators.
My gas and electric bill combined is £1600 a year.

So I think that demonstrates gas vs electric. The way I see it I now have 1 heating system heating 7 radiators instead of 5 electric radiators each using electricity. Whether an electric boiler is better than a gas one is different question but having loads of electric radiators each needing power vs one boiler needing power is a no brainer which I would choose.

Whodis

Luckysprite wrote: »

Gas all the way.

I had 2 bed flat new build with 5 electric radiators. They were supposedly energy efficient and expensive. They could be controlled via Wi-fi and an app in the hole to save money. I replaced the original ones when I moved in.
I was spending £3000 a year on electricity.

I now live in a 3 bed 60 year old house with gas boiler heating central heating radiators.
My gas and electric bill combined is £1600 a year.

So I think that demonstrates gas vs electric. The way I see it I now have 1 heating system heating 7 radiators instead of 5 electric radiators each using electricity. Whether an electric boiler is better than a gas one is different question but having loads of electric radiators each needing power vs one boiler needing power is a no brainer which I would choose.

I don't think comparing the number of heat sources makes sense, just how much energy they use and how much it costs in total.

Your bills seem high in your first flat. £3000 is £8.2 / day, so let's say £6 is on heating, with the rest going to showers, washing machine etc. £6 of electricity at 15p/kWh is 40 kWh of energy. Let's say your radiators were 1000 W at maximum output. 40 kWh divided by 5 is 8kWh, that would mean 8 hours of use for each radiator at maximum output every day. Or 16 hours per day if you only needed heating for 6 months of the year. I think my numbers must be wrong as that seems excessive for a 2 bed flat.

cybervic

Generally speaking gas heating costs less than electric heating. However, gas boiler has high setup cost, high maintenance cost (need regular service and may break down needing repairs..etc). and it's going to be phased out slowly and by 2025 all the new build can only have Electric Heating.

A friend has a 3 bed semi East/North facing house (new build). They have a energy efficient electric heating system, I was at theirs for 2 weeks last winter and the house was always warm. Apparently insulation is the key, I was also surprised to learn their electricity bill is not much expansive than my gas+electricity combined.

OP if you don't plan on staying in the house for long then it may be worth consider other cheaper option as it's only a 1 bed house so cost of insulation and better electric heating system shuld be far less than having a gas boiler.

onomatopoeia99

cybervic wrote: »

Apparently insulation is the key

That's a separate argument. Houses on the gas main can also be insulated. I have done, I went from no loft insulation in my 70 year old bungalow when I moved in to 275mm depth and it made a big difference, as did insulating the cavities. I also replaced the front and rear external doors with new ones having far better insulation properties.

Substantial capital expenditure was required, at least on the front door, and a lot of labour on my part to insulate the loft, but it was worth it.

When the gas boiler dies I will look at ASHP heating.

stronk

For what it's worth (old thread, I realise): I am living with my partner and infant in a poorly insulated 2-floor flat with 7 rooms. One of the floors is in the roof space and every room in the flat has at least one exterior wall - usually several. I don't own the flat, so can't fix the insulation problems, but I'm responsible for the energy bills. In winter, it is costing me £200 per month in energy bills. There's gas central heating and I have a few electric heaters I can move around. After some experimentation, it turned out to be £50 cheaper per month (down from £250 to £200) to run the gas central heating all day, keeping every room around 21C, than to heat two of the 7 rooms with electric heaters during the day.

So from my own experience: gas heating is wildly cheaper than electrical heating. I've gone from a freezing cold flat with two warm rooms and closed doors to the whole flat being nice and warm all day and saved money in the process...

I now only use an electric heater at night to keep the area near my daughter's cot warm. If I had the patience, I would go around the flat and turn off all the radiators every evening and use the central heating only in her room, but then I'd have to move the thermostat around and I'd spend half my life fiddling with the heating.

krlyr

As this was bumped up - I've actually just sold the property this post was about. The electricity costs weren't too crazy - I was paying around £50/month by myself, which increased to around £70/month when my fiance moved in.

Obviously gas would have likely been cheaper per month but as I only stayed for the 3 years, this came to £1000-2000 less than I would have paid for the gas/boiler/central heating installation - plus COVID affected the sales price so I doubt I would have recouped what I'd invested. So the decision to stay on electric paid off!  

Having had an EPC done to sell, the inspector did suggest a different kind of electric heating which is more economical - these cost around £800-1000. So something I perhaps would have considered had I been staying longer and not wanted the disruption of fitting gas, but not something I need to worry about anymore (new property has gas, hooray!) 

Ectophile

onomatopoeia99 said:

movilogo wrote: »

It is not always the case the electric heating is more expensive compared to gas.

Given the difference in cost per kilowatt hour between electricity and gas (typically threefold), it is always the case that electric is more expensive, even with economy seven..

That may depend whether you're counting the cost of the fuel, or the total cost of ownership (especially if the OP already has electic installed).

Storage heaters need no yearly maintenance, and should last a lot longer than a combi boiler will.