Gas heating or electric heaters cheaper to run?

TheBanker

[Deleted User] said:

Maybe because most seem not to understand that.  Also because for E7, the unit prices aren't directly capped (and actually they aren't for standard either, but that's just OFGEM maths).

There are also different caps for different regions.

The media "price cap" is just an average of averages, and doesn't actually mean that much - but trying to explain tables full of numbers and individual circumstances doesn't make good press.

I think some media organisations are trying to be more helpful, with the 'running the dishwasher will cost £xx' type articles. But even these have many variables - the model and size of dishwasher, the setting and temperature it runs on for example. And naturally someone will want to compare that to washing up by hand which has its own variables - how they heat the water, and how many times they have to change the water, and how big their washing up bowl is. 

I'm having the same dilemma with electrically heating one room vs gas heating the house. Proper use of the thermostat and TRVs mean my gut instinct is that the central heating will still be cheaper. The only way I'll get a completely accurate answer is to try both options when the weather's cold and use my smart meter to work out which was the most cost effective. 

macman

Maybe this is the ideal moment then to start educating people into actually looking at their bills and understanding them? if they're not going to do that this winter, then they never will.

molerat

A simple comparison for me is that, at October prices, I will be able to heat my whole house 24/7 to walking around in a t shirt level and supply as much hot water as I need for the same price as a non controlled 2 bar electric fire for 14 hours.

dr78

macman said:

It's depressing that this question is still being asked, but, given the gov't insists on patronising us by presenting the price cap as a '£3549 maximum', rather than quoting the kWh rates, then no doubt it will continue to be asked.
Everyone understands petrol being quoted as pence per litre, so why do our gov't think people can't grasp units of energy too?

I was paying £133 a month and they have said I will be paying £350 a month now on. I don’t have it spare so trying to see what I can do to save money. Sad times isn’t it with all this 

dr78

Just rang them to double check I can’t change tariff and spoke to a vile person who said mine will probably be about 4000 a year and if I dont pay it they will cut me off. But I don’t have the money to pay out that much 

macman

Disconnection is very rare, usually in cases of fraud (meter tampering), and if you get into debt then the first stage is to fit PPM's, but that could be years down the road.
Perhaps if you tell us your annual kWh usage on each fuel and the type of property, and heating, and what tariff you are on now, then proper advice can be given.
Remember that you should have already received a £150 rebate on your CT if in bands A to D, and a further £400 rebate via your electricity account is starting in October. Further help will apply if you are on certain benefits, disabled or a pensioner. So far you haven't given us any basic info that enables us to help you.
If you refer to call centre staff doing their job as 'vile' then I doubt you are going to get much help from them. They don't set the tariffs.

grandadgolfer

Alnat1 said:

Layer the kids up in clothes, same as adults. Long sleeved t-shirts, sweat tops, fleeces etc. Make sure they wear something on their feet, thick socks and slippers, they'll be plenty warm enough. 

People survived mostly without any central heating at all until the 70s. A couple of degrees cooler on the thermostat won't do the kids any harm this winter.

I think people have forgot how many house had no central heating in the 60/70s......my house as a kid didn't get central heating till I was 8 in 1970.me and my brothers went to bed with extra blankets/hot water bottle and woke up to frost on single pane windows. So in todays modern double glazed houses it shouldn't be to much of  problem turning radiators off in bedrooms and rely on electric blankets which cost a few pence to warm bed up for an hour before bed, people will be surprised how much they will save granted still high prices but easy to reduce gas consumption by 20/30/40 %

sienew

macman said:

It's depressing that this question is still being asked, but, given the gov't insists on patronising us by presenting the price cap as a '£3549 maximum', rather than quoting the kWh rates, then no doubt it will continue to be asked.
Everyone understands petrol being quoted as pence per litre, so why do our gov't think people can't grasp units of energy too?

Because if you ask 100 people how much fuel they put in their car a week they will have a (often very rough) idea how much. If you ask them how many kwh of gas/electric they use I'd guess 80% of people have no idea at all.

Alnat1

As above, ask people how much petrol you put in a week, most will say £40 rather than how many litres.

macman

Fair point, but most people do have some idea of the actual price per litre. Probably because fuel is not contracted to for a year or so at a time. People do shop around a bit for it, at least in their local area.