Future heating

MouldyOldDough

Looking to the future – what is the cheapest method to heat a house, with electricity ?

If gas boilers are withdrawn in a few years – it is going to be something that we all will have to consider.

Even at 7p per kWh - gas is still relatively cheap

I remember in the 70's, my parents had storage heaters running on 2p per kWh off peak !!

I also see adverts for cheap to run "panel heaters" but the reason that they are cheap to run is that they only put out, perhaps 200 watts of heat.

If you increase the output to 1kW or more - they cost 45p per hour or more to run - and that is just todays rates.

I don't honestly see solar or heat source as an answer - since not everyone has access to suitable outside space and heat source still costs a fortune to run.

Also for hot water.......

The days of deep hot baths are long gone as are the days of long hot showers !

Mstty

Forgetting install costs come October ASHP Air Sources Heat Pump with a ratio of gas to electric prices expected 3:1 is going to come out equal or cheaper even for retrofit.

Designed and fitted during build is now for us already beating gas central heating and hot water. That's at a ratio of gas price to electric of 4:1 based on April 2022 capped prices.

MouldyOldDough

Mstty said:

Forgetting install costs come October ASHP Air Sources Heat Pump with a ratio of gas to electric prices expected 3:1 is going to come out equal or cheaper even for retrofit.

Designed and fitted during build is now for us already beating gas central heating and hot water. That's at a ratio of gas price to electric of 4:1 based on April 2022 capped prices.

But what do they cost installed? 

Mstty

MouldyOldDough said:

Mstty said:

Forgetting install costs come October ASHP Air Sources Heat Pump with a ratio of gas to electric prices expected 3:1 is going to come out equal or cheaper even for retrofit.

Designed and fitted during build is now for us already beating gas central heating and hot water. That's at a ratio of gas price to electric of 4:1 based on April 2022 capped prices.

But what do they cost installed? 

Well that's irrelevant if you are looking to change to whatever is cheapest then the answer is stick with what you have unless you are not moving for 10-20 years.

It's an open ended question with no parameters and to be honest the right heating for a detached 4 bed new build will be different to a 50 year old 3 bed end terrace to a 2 bed fourth floor flat.

Like EV's you don't buy a 50k EV and say when do I get return on my investment as a depreciating asset. 

If the question you are asking has to include the change to another form of heating then the answer will always be "stay with what you have" unless you are on electric and on benefits and can get the gas boiler grant if it still exists as it did last year. Cost £500 including combi boiler and radiators.

brewerdave

MouldyOldDough said:

Looking to the future – what is the cheapest method to heat a house, with electricity ?

If gas boilers are withdrawn in a few years – it is going to be something that we all will have to consider.

Even at 7p per kWh - gas is still relatively cheap

I remember in the 70's, my parents had storage heaters running on 2p per kWh off peak !!

I also see adverts for cheap to run "panel heaters" but the reason that they are cheap to run is that they only put out, perhaps 200 watts of heat.

If you increase the output to 1kW or more - they cost 45p per hour or more to run - and that is just todays rates.

I don't honestly see solar or heat source as an answer - since not everyone has access to suitable outside space and heat source still costs a fortune to run.

Also for hot water.......

The days of deep hot baths are long gone as are the days of long hot showers !

If only it was 7p /kwh - I've taken a 2 year fix @ 11.1p and recently the fixed gas prices are considerably more than that! I believe that the cap will be well over 12p in October.

On install of an ASHP - I was given a budget cost of £21k that included uprated radiators, a new hot water tank, controls etc as well as the pump itself.

lohr500

Based on the current SVT in my area with EDF, electricity is 27.36 pence per unit and gas is 7.28 pence.
So electricity is currently 3.76 times more expensive per unit.

In the real world, when it is cold outside and heating is needed most, are the latest generation ASHP's achieving a COP figure of 3.76? If I understand the logic correctly, this would need to be the COP figure to make an ASHP as cheap to run as gas using the above energy costs.

Do we know if the electricity/gas price differential is going to widen with the October cap, or are both likely to go up by a similar %?  

I am not anti ASHP, but I am still to be convinced that there is any saving against gas.

Alnat1

Try October predictions of 44p for electric, 15p for gas and it starts to get a bit more convincing.

pochase

Current predictions for the cap will mean the electricity only  being 3.1 times more expensive than gas.

	Q4 2022	Q1 2023
Gas	14.17	14.82
Electricity	43.94	45.38

This might go down to 3.06 in January.

lohr500

Blimey. I'm glad I stuck with oil when making a new boiler decision last year.

Heating oil prices have softened a bit in the last week or so. £0.893 per litre in my area, including the VAT.
At 100% efficiency that equates to 8.623 pence per unit. At 90% boiler efficiency, 9.58 pence per unit.

Of course, who knows what will happen to the price of oil in the next few months. Or what additional support may be provided on electricity and/or gas costs following a change of leadership withing Govt.

Mister_G

Likewise with my LPG.  Currently paying 6.2p/kWh. (90% efficiency)

MouldyOldDough

Concerned about power running out with millions of EV's on the horizon? 
You will be...
https://mol.im/a/11042881