Feedback on electric boiler pl?

FtbDreaming

I was genuinely considering changing over from gas combi boiler to electric wet combi boiler in the next few weeks. The main reason being the only thing we have Gas now is GCH and we’re on prepayment meters… I haven’t bought any gas since March so the standing charge debt is up to £75 now so I will need to put at least £100 in before I get any gas then it’ll be £30-50 a week.

 Then there’s a chance the boiler might not work having been off since March. Plus the cost of a gas safety check. i was thinking it might be worth changing over now. Still get to keep all my radiators; it’s supposed to be a simple ish swap; and getting gas removed from the property would eliminate a bill. 

Now I’m not sure what I want. I need to decide very soon though because once I pay the £100 on the pp meter it’s staying for another year.

ComicGeek

While it would eliminate a bill, I can't see the point of paying at least 3 times the running cost for the electric boiler compared to the gas boiler. If you spend £50 a week on gas, then you'll spend at least £150 a week on an electric boiler.

Electric combis are also hugely expensive. It would normally be cheaper to repair an existing gas boiler than install an equivalent electric combi. 

Unless you've done some really detailed costings to confirm (and I can't see how it would work myself) I fear it would be a really expensive mistake.

Professional speaking they should ban electric boilers, they are the worst possible option in any situation. 

FtbDreaming

Yeah I don’t think it’ll be financially viable either tbh. It’s more the OH that wants to get rid of the gas. I’m leaning towards just carrying on as I am however I’ve told him if he wants to come up with the money for the actual boiler (£1100-1800) then I will go ahead with the change. I won’t be paying it now though as it will put me back at least 18 months on my debt free plan! 

ThisIsWeird

FtbD, this is worth a thread of its own.
But why are you on PP meters?
A few years back I looked at a lovely converted village hall for the in-laws, and this had wet CH supplied by a leccy combi. However, it also had PV panels (I think over 4kW's worth) and a battery. They had a deal with 'Smart' electricity to buy surplus e, get cheap e at certain times, and even for e to be pinched from their battery at other times! The owners hadn't lived there for any length of time - it was done up to sell - so I couldn't get actual figures out of them. But my best guesstimate was that it would be similar to oil (remote location - so the usual alternative), in which case it would have made complete sense. But that was with PVs and a battery!
In short, FtbD, you'd be nuts to swap from gas.

FreeBear

FtbDreaming said:

Yeah I don’t think it’ll be financially viable either tbh. It’s more the OH that wants to get rid of the gas. I’m leaning towards just carrying on as I am however I’ve told him if he wants to come up with the money for the actual boiler (£1100-1800) then I will go ahead with the change.

Even taking in to account the standing charge, gas will be much, much cheaper to run in the foreseeable future. Should the gas boiler become uneconomical to repair, a replacement can be had from around £600 (plus fitting).

If you really want to get rid of gas, then a heat pump is about the most cost effective form of electric heating to run. Downside is the cost of installation, the need for bigger radiators, and possibly larger pipework. Next best option is night storage heaters on E7.

propertyrental

FtbDreaming said:

I was genuinely considering changing over from gas combi boiler to electric wet combi boiler in the next few weeks. The main reason being the only thing we have Gas now is GCH and we’re on prepayment meters… I haven’t bought any gas since March so the standing charge debt is up to £75 now so I will need to put at least £100 in before I get any gas then it’ll be £30-50 a week.

 Then there’s a chance the boiler might not work having been off since March. Plus the cost of a gas safety check. i was thinking it might be worth changing over now. Still get to keep all my radiators; it’s supposed to be a simple ish swap; and getting gas removed from the property would eliminate a bill. 

Now I’m not sure what I want. I need to decide very soon though because once I pay the £100 on the pp meter it’s staying for another year.

You've also not mentioned the cost of installing the new boiler. Have you factored in how long that will take till you start covering that cost, especially given the higher running costs mentioned above?

I would be looking at ways to get off the pre-payment meter and onto standard billing, ideally DD.

I suggest you post on the energy board for advice on how to approach that:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/categories/energy

FFHillbilly

FreeBear said:

FtbDreaming said:

Yeah I don’t think it’ll be financially viable either tbh. It’s more the OH that wants to get rid of the gas. I’m leaning towards just carrying on as I am however I’ve told him if he wants to come up with the money for the actual boiler (£1100-1800) then I will go ahead with the change.

Even taking in to account the standing charge, gas will be much, much cheaper to run in the foreseeable future. 

at the minute yes, but I'm not sure how accurate the crystal ball is....
before the energy price crisis there were plans to remove part of the green tax that had been applied to electric historically as it was produced from burning coal and back then gas was seen as the clean alternative.
Now that gas is running out and is carbon producing fossil fuel, and more and more electricity is produced from wind and solar it's looking like the greener choice so there were plans to start shifting the green tax/social obligation or whatever it was called from electric to gas, off the top of my head it was 21% so in theory gas could be 21% more expensive and electric could be 21% cheaper in the near future.
this plan was put on hold, but I'm sure it will happen at some point, probably before 2030

so, the point of that is, you might be able to buy cheap properties now with poor EPC ratings due to "electric only heating", but when the price swings 21% between gas & electric, and maybe assume the price of wholesale gas just goes up anyway die to shortage of it, none of that will matter and the whole situation will be flipped ono it's head.

FtbDreaming

I know PP Is most expensive but I’ve had my fingers burnt twice on Direct debit so I won’t go back to that tbh. Id rather pay double than have myself in that position again. 

I take on board what you’re all saying about electric boilers… I think the chance of me actually changing over are very slim to none but it was something I was considering. 

I don’t think the heat pump systems are all they’re cracked up to be from the few bits I have read on them so I do t think I’d be bothered with that. Solar power would be something else I’d consider in future. 

FreeBear

FFHillbilly said: Now that gas is running out and is carbon producing fossil fuel, and more and more electricity is produced from wind and solar it's looking like the greener choice so there were plans to start shifting the green tax/social obligation or whatever it was called from electric to gas, off the top of my head it was 21% so in theory gas could be 21% more expensive and electric could be 21% cheaper in the near future.
this plan was put on hold, but I'm sure it will happen at some point, probably before 2030

Based on what I am currently paying for gas & electricity, a 21% shift works out at 24p (electricity) and 8.95p (gas) per KWh. So gas heating is still going to be cheaper than most forms of electric heating. But heat pumps with a COP over 2.8 start to look cost effective.

FFHillbilly

FreeBear said:

FFHillbilly said: Now that gas is running out and is carbon producing fossil fuel, and more and more electricity is produced from wind and solar it's looking like the greener choice so there were plans to start shifting the green tax/social obligation or whatever it was called from electric to gas, off the top of my head it was 21% so in theory gas could be 21% more expensive and electric could be 21% cheaper in the near future.
this plan was put on hold, but I'm sure it will happen at some point, probably before 2030

Based on what I am currently paying for gas & electricity, a 21% shift works out at 24p (electricity) and 8.95p (gas) per KWh. So gas heating is still going to be cheaper than most forms of electric heating. But heat pumps with a COP over 2.8 start to look cost effective.

I didn't explain that right last night sorry, 
"Currently, 23% of the cost of electricity is made up of environmental and social obligation costs, with the costs of numerous decarbonisation programmes funded through the levy. However, gas costs include less than 2% of environmental and social obligation costs"

thats a quote from this article, and the 23% removed from electricity prices is just added onto gas, so based on 30p for electric and 8p for gas we are paying now, 6.9p is removed from electric and added onto gas making them 23.1p and 14.9p respectively