New (Old) house - Gas boiler or electric smart hot water tank

thegingeuk

We have recently purchased a 2 bed (built 1900ish) terrace which currently has old electric storage heaters and hot water using an tank / immersion. There is gas to the property although the supply is capped off.  We are refurbishing the house before we move in so going to take out the old hot water tank and heaters and we plan to fully insulate the loft.
House has 2 rooms plus kitchen downstairs and 2 up plus bathroom. 
Our options for hot water / heating are:

1. Fit gas central heating with a combi boiler and remove the old tank
2. Get a smart hot water cylinder and fit infrared or latest technology electric heaters in the rooms (We may fit solar panels at some point)

I know traditionally gas would have been the better option however with volatility of prices has any one any one got any experience of option 2 or any recommendations?

grumbler

I am no expert, but...

Solar panels can make some difference,  but at big cost - with big capacity battery storage.

Otherwise, you can call it 'smart' or whatever, but even 'dumb' heaters are 100% efficient, mains electricity is MUCH more expensive than gas and their prices are correlated, i.e. equally volatile.

In the future heat pumps are more probable and will work with water-based CH, possibly slightly modified.

nofoollikeold

1. Check how much it will cost to get the gas reconnected - can be quite expensive.
2. Gas is still about 1/3 the cost of electricity per kW/hour.  This may change in the future, who can tell?
3. Assuming electrical heating is 100% efficient, and gas powered space heating is around 90% efficient then electrical space heating will still be more than twice as expensive as gas space heating.
4. "Smart" hot water cylinders are fairly new.  The savings you can achieve depend heavily on the usage pattern, although the savings quoted are, as usual, the best possible.  Anything which "can save up to 30%" can also save nothing!
5. If I were you I'd go for gas heating for both space and domestic hot water.  You could do some "future proofing" by sizing the radiators for a lower average temperature, or look at under floor heating.  
6. When you say you may fit solar panels, the economics for photo-voltaic (electricity generating) and thermal (hot water / fluid) panels are different.  

FreeBear

thegingeuk said: We are refurbishing the house before we move in so going to take out the old hot water tank and heaters and we plan to fully insulate the loft.

As part of the refurbishment, you really do need to consider adding insulation to the walls. You'll (probably) have solid brick walls, so you need something breathable rather than Celotex/Kingspan type boards. 120mm cork boards topped with ~15mm of lime plaster will give you a breathable insulated wall and hit the current recommended u-value for refurbished properties. Being a terrace, you only have two external walls to insulate, so that will keep the costs down.

Also worth insulating the ground floor if you can - Assuming suspended timber floor, be careful not to compromise the ventilation of the void.

Once you have insulated the place to the max, any heaters or radiators can be mounted on internal walls rather than under windows. If you go for gas heating, oversize the radiators with an eventual switch to ASHP. With bigger radiators on gas, you can run at a lower temperature and push the boiler to run at an optimum condensing mode. This will save you a fair bit on running costs.