Cost of electricity a day whilst running air source heat pump!

K80G92

Hey, so out of curiosity those who have a air source heat pump how much are you finding you are paying a day to run your electricity we have now hit £11 in the last week as temperatures have dropped to single figures and this is scary as it is only going to get colder and therefore higher bills. We have only had the ashp a year but originally had a fault last year but of course since then rates have grown considerably too so I just don't know what is a normal cost to expect or wether I have a fault again. 

Every time I feel like I am doing the right thing whether it's a fixing a mortgage or now going green I make the wrong decision and it seems to go the other way 😩 

I read that ashp even now should be like £1200 a year I'm going to be looking at that in 3/4 months... in summer my electricity was £150 a month in a 4 bed semi with just 2 adults... and I am due a baby February so definitely want a warm home. We keep at 18degrees as it says keep at constant temperature we have even knocked one thermostat to 16 that runs the whole except our open plan living area which is underfloor. 

I'm absolutely mortified at the cost and I just don't know what's normal I hear people saying their electric and gas right now is like £5 and I'm at £11... something just doesn't feel right... is this what others are seeing with a ashp? 

Thanks 

Spoonie_Turtle

We seem to have a somewhat higher baseload than others due to multiple old freezers.  In that context, with heating set to 18℃, we're currently averaging 25-28kWh/day.  At EPG rate that would be £8.75-£9.80, plus standing charge.  It will increase as the temperature decreases.

Have to say though, last month the heat pump used 139kWh (£48.65) and in September used 97kWh (would have been £33.95 at new rates).  I haven't checked this month's usage so far.  We have 9 radiators and our hot water usage is fairly minimal.

One thing I will say is keep an eye on it in summer, in case there's a heavy vampire load.  Ours apparently used 50kWh for "heating" in August - yes, August when we had that heat wave.  0kWh heating output, obviously.  (The only solution I've seen if it is a model with that kind of vampire load is turning it off at the big red switch outside, obviously not very useful if you still need hot water.)

Jrw90

Mine is low 5-7kwh per day for the last week (15kwh in October 65kwh so far this month) but doesn’t heat the water just heating with 3 units . Heating is set to 23c but only on few a few hours at night. I ended up turning the system off outside at the red switch as it was using some when switched off but not in the summer as needed for the aircon which was using around 60kwh per month (only at night as solar panels were running it in the day)

Spoonie_Turtle

Jrw90 said:

Heating is set to 23c but only on few a few hours at night.

Do you have cheap night rate electricity?  Sounds an odd way of setting it, unless you're nocturnal.

Jrw90

O i don’t mean overnight I mean evening just on around 6pm to 9pm. 

K80G92

Spoonie_Turtle said:

We seem to have a somewhat higher baseload than others due to multiple old freezers.  In that context, with heating set to 18℃, we're currently averaging 25-28kWh/day.  At EPG rate that would be £8.75-£9.80, plus standing charge.  It will increase as the temperature decreases.

Have to say though, last month the heat pump used 139kWh (£48.65) and in September used 97kWh (would have been £33.95 at new rates).  I haven't checked this month's usage so far.  We have 9 radiators and our hot water usage is fairly minimal.

One thing I will say is keep an eye on it in summer, in case there's a heavy vampire load.  Ours apparently used 50kWh for "heating" in August - yes, August when we had that heat wave.  0kWh heating output, obviously.  (The only solution I've seen if it is a model with that kind of vampire load is turning it off at the big red switch outside, obviously not very useful if you still need hot water.)

Hmm the usage is interesting mine is running at 30-35 in the last week with the temperature outside dropped I'm on 33p a unit and might aswell say 45p standing charge and varying between £10-12 a day!! 

August I used 376kwh in all... a very varied daily use and obviously this was just my electric usage and hot water as no heating required... so far this month 490kwh with the last 5 days all over the 30kwh a day... 

You have just reminded me actually they fitted the missing meter on the heat pump usage I should keep an eye on what the heat pump is actually using of this 35 units... 

It's all just so confusing and noone knows the 'normal' cost of any type of energy at the moment but especially when you then throw in a heat pump that they throw around is £1300 is your expected energy bill using this but it really isn't! 

What I've just mentioned to my other half is I don't understand why I am seeing more and more social housing having it fitted if it is so expensive to run as their just going to struggle even more at these running costs so I feel like I am missing something 🤔 as I say it's frustrating because I know it was faulty initially too last year at least I am actually getting some heat this year from.my high bill. 

K80G92

Ps literally 9 radiators running on what I have now knocked to 16 degrees and we have underfloor at 18 in one large open plan living area.

When we look at the nest report though the underfloor is literally running 2 hours... its the rest of the house on 16 that seems to kick in more frequently and we knocked to 16 when on 18 it was trying to run like 6 hours a day...

It's just insane money  

Spoonie_Turtle

K80G92 said:
I don't understand why I am seeing more and more social housing having it fitted if it is so expensive to run as their just going to struggle even more at these running costs so I feel like I am missing something 🤔 

I would assume they probably had electric heating before already, so heat pumps are more efficient than storage or panel heaters.  Cost-wise if they were previously on Economy 7, I don't know whether it works out any cheaper or not.

EssexHebridean

Spoonie_Turtle said:

K80G92 said:
I don't understand why I am seeing more and more social housing having it fitted if it is so expensive to run as their just going to struggle even more at these running costs so I feel like I am missing something 🤔 

I would assume they probably had electric heating before already, so heat pumps are more efficient than storage or panel heaters.  Cost-wise if they were previously on Economy 7, I don't know whether it works out any cheaper or not.

I'm certainly aware of new build social housing in the Scottish islands having heat pumps fitted as the standard housing now - but of course across much of the outer isles in particular there is little mains gas. the "Standard" up there until recently would have been either oil-fired CH or storage heaters on a dual-rate tariff I think. 

Spoonie_Turtle

EssexHebridean said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

K80G92 said:
I don't understand why I am seeing more and more social housing having it fitted if it is so expensive to run as their just going to struggle even more at these running costs so I feel like I am missing something 🤔 

I would assume they probably had electric heating before already, so heat pumps are more efficient than storage or panel heaters.  Cost-wise if they were previously on Economy 7, I don't know whether it works out any cheaper or not.

I'm certainly aware of new build social housing in the Scottish islands having heat pumps fitted as the standard housing now - but of course across much of the outer isles in particular there is little mains gas. the "Standard" up there until recently would have been either oil-fired CH or storage heaters on a dual-rate tariff I think. 

That certainly makes sense, from an environmental and efficiency perspective.  Perhaps less so financially for tenants but that's hardly likely to be on the list of considerations for new housing (and to be honest, I completely understand environmental impact taking precedence).

Mouldymeat3

Have you checked the pasteurising heater settings?