Heat Pump Cost Calculations

Gerry1

QrizB said:

matt_drummer said:

Yes, I can't imagine you'll be getting all that at no cost!

It sounds as though he's been offered a Home Upgrade Grant:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/households-save-200-on-bills-with-energy-efficiency-investment

'Has Been Offered' or 'Might Qualify For and Even Be Offered'?

That press release was issued three days before Russia invaded Ukraine, referred to only 'up to 4300 households' and was due to have been completed two months ago.

Wouldn't place much reliance on it now !

Edit: I see matt_drummer beat me to it...

ian1246

Harvs94 said:

Hello all,

I've recently been told I'm eligible for insulation and heating measures under one of the current goverment schemes. 

I've been told I'll be eligible for top loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, room in roof insulation, window ventilation, an air source heat pump and solar panels, which is all really great. 

However, we recently (3 years ago) had a new oil boiler and system installed and I've had reservations about switching to a heat pump. I've also been told it's an all or nothing offer, so I can't get the insulation without the heat pump installed. The measures should bring our EPC from a low F to a high B.

I've done some workings out of oil cost vs electricity cost of the heat pump and its coming in considerably more expensive per annum however this doesn't consider the enormous insulation improvements.

10,000kWh ÷ 0.9(boiler effiency) = 11,111 kwH energy demand.

11,111 ÷ 10.35 = 1073ltr (Oil Required)

1073 x 0.63 = £675 (Cost of oil per annum based on average my average oil price over 12 months) 

10,000 ÷ 3.65 = 2739

2739 x 0.33 = £903 (Cost of heat pump per annum based on my current tariff)

If anyone has any advice on the switch and heat pumps vs oil I'd love to hear. 

In my mind this seems like a no brainer offer I'm just concerned that my monthly bills may be considerably higher. 

Thanks

If its a all or nothing package, you probably need to factor in the Solar Panels bringing your energy bills down during spring, summer & Autumn (Saving on electricity costs which can then be put towards your increased electricity bills for heating!), as well as significantly reduced Kwh per square metre heating requirements due to the insulation your  being offered.

If I was you, I'd snap their hands off - provided that the offer is legitimate!

Harvs94

Thanks everybody for the responses.

To my understanding the Scheme is the Eco4 scheme. But here's where it gets confusing..

I have been in talks with a somewhat 'middle man' company since the end of last year, who are the ones supposedly progressing our application with the council and have put us in touch with an installer. 

I have reached out to the installers for further details regarding the installation process and so far are all seems fairly legit. I'm understandably wary as I know this seems too good of an offer and so far too easy of a process to be legit so I have had my reservations. 

This 'middle man' company however, did contact me in January to explain that my local authority were no longer participating in the scheme. At this point I made a second application directly with the council as there did appear to be a scheme active in my area.  

This scheme is the Suffolk Warm Homes scheme. 

The council did a survey, and they are still working through their back log of applications. It's been close to 3 months now, chased twice to be told they haven't got to ours yet.
Meanwhile this other company reached back out to say they CAN now get the funding.

We're at a point now where they are waiting on me to give the OK for all the measures. 

Its worth noting that this company and the installers aren't recognised by the council or the Warm Homes Suffolk scheme. 

So I'm not entirely sure why there appears to be funding for the same measures in the same area, but from different sources. 

matt_drummer

I hope you are not in Ipswich.

Ipswich Borough Council have caused me a whole world of pain over my ASHP.

QrizB

Harvs94 said:

So I'm not entirely sure why there appears to be funding for the same measures in the same area, but from different sources.

This is not at all unusual. If you look at the official Government page, it lists various parallel schemes - all or none of which might be available to any given householder:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/find-energy-grants-for-you-home-help-to-heat

Getting back to the heat pump question, historically a heat pump with a COP of 3 has had a comparable fuel cost to an oil or LPG boiler, but not to mains gas. A forum regular @Reed_Richards replaced his oil boiler with a heat pump, ran the numbers and there wasn't much in it. Whether that situation will once again become common remains to be seen, but there are tariffs available today that offer electricity for 20p/kWh or less - at which point, if you revisit your calculations, you'll see the heat pump is a little cheaper than oil.

The insulation measures will also reduce your heat demand, helping with the economics, while the solar panels should reduce your electricity use for 8 months of the year (solar PV output isn't great in the dark months from November to February.)

Whether you take the offered help or not is your decision but it's not quite as bleak as your opening post suggests.

matelodave

Just for info,

 the new price cap for where I live in the Eastern Region puts leccy at 4.2 times the cost of gas so you'd need to achieve an unrealistic COP of better than 4.2 just to break even with gas especially if you give up using gas in favour of electricity to cook with as well.

matthewling

Under the HUG2 scheme an installer can't insist on heat pump installation - the guidance has been quite clear on that. The guidance says 'BEIS mandates that the final decision to install a heat pump rests solely with the household.' 

If its being installed under the EcoFlex scheme then this has to be done with permission from the Warm Homes Suffolk team on behalf of the local councils. 

As you are in Suffolk, please feel free to contact me via the Warm Homes Suffolk address or directly, and I'm happy to help if I can. 

QrizB

matthewling said:

Under the HUG2 scheme an installer can't insist on heat pump installation - the guidance has been quite clear on that. The guidance says 'BEIS mandates that the final decision to install a heat pump rests solely with the household.' 

If its being installed under the EcoFlex scheme then this has to be done with permission from the Warm Homes Suffolk team on behalf of the local councils. 

As you are in Suffolk, please feel free to contact me via the Warm Homes Suffolk address or directly, and I'm happy to help if I can. 

It's good to hear this directly from the scheme!