Cheapest heating options now Gas has gone up

Vannnie

I don't know what the new tariff is yet for my move from Green to Shell, but are electricity prices going up a lot as well as gas?

I was wondering if it would be cheaper to heat water in the immersion heater using the electric option rather than gas from the boiler? Also, might it turn out a bit cheaper to use, say, oil-filled radiators in a room rather than the central heating all over the house?

Or am I being daft?!

QrizB

Gas is still 1/5th the price of standard-rate electricity.

Edit: Sorry, that was quite short, I didn't intend to sound rude! There are some niche cases where electricity could be cheaper than gas (using an electric kettle instead of boiling a pan on a stove, for example, or an electric blanket instead of heating a whole room) but generally you'll save money using the gas boiler rather than an immersion heater or oil-filled radiator.

matelodave

Gas is still 4-5 times cheaper than leccy so there's no advantage whatsoever in using leccy instead of gas.

Ultrasonic

The cost of electricity is going up too, in part because much if it comes from power stations that burn gas.

As above, use gas for heating as before but do what you can to sensibly minimise how much you use.

Verdigris

Depending on you circumstances only heat as much water as you need. I put the boiler on for 5 minutes for a shower or a couple on minutes longer for a shower and the washing up. Saves a fortune. Sadly, you can't avoid the daily charge.

niktheguru

The name of the game as always is only use as much electricity or gas as you need. 
Use of gas is still MUCH MUCH cheaper than that of electricity for the same task....do not be tempted to use your immersion heater.....use gas.

coffeehound

As discussed recently on here, Octopus Go/Faster with 3, 4 or 5 very cheap hours of electricity might provide a cheaper way to heat the water tank than a boiler since the boiler tends to run less efficiently - for some of the time at least - in that role.  

I think Dolor provided some numbers that showed using the gas boiler took nearly twice as many energy units to heat the tank than the immersion.

Also I suppose a an induction hob might possibly challenge a gas hob as they are very frugal with the power whereas the gas hob splashes the heat around a lot more.

chris1973

Ultrasonic said:

The cost of electricity is going up too, in part because much if it comes from power stations that burn gas.

Showing just how ineffective the £billions we have spent rushing out renewable energy has been. Other Countries know this, which is why Countries like Germany are keeping their coal fired plants online until 2038. That money would have been much better spent putting towards nuclear energy and cleaning up our Coal Fired plants.

Its always going to be cheaper to heat one room rather than the entire house, I just use a one bar Halogen Heater pointed at me, this heats me rather than trying to heat the air within the room. When full blown Winter arrives, I may even put on a second bar!.

In relation to what heating is cheaper longer term, my bet is Paraffin to heat and Whale Oil for light - well its what we are heading back to. If Electricity does get more expensive next year, then its running close to just buying a cheap second hand diesel generator and running it on red diesel to generate your own. Tough luck if it upsets the Greta massive.

Unfortunately there will be a lot of people this Winter just 'existing' rather than living, especially if we have a colder than average winter, and a record breaking number in Fuel poverty. Not something as a Country, to be proud of.

Skintsaver

Last year I changed some tvrs to smart tvrs, I could see in my bills/usage I was saving instantly. This winter will be interesting to see how a full winter with them will compare to the 18/19 winter 

Ultrasonic

Skintsaver said:

Last year I changed some tvrs to smart tvrs, I could see in my bills/usage I was saving instantly. This winter will be interesting to see how a full winter with them will compare to the 18/19 winter 

In case it confuses anyone, I think you mean TRVs (thermostatic radiator valves).