Electric only new build flats

snowqueen555

Hi

I have my eye on a new build development 1-2 bed flats and the flats are quite cheap in comparison to other new builds. I'm wondering if having all electric heating/water is a deal breaker. I am pretty frugal when it comes to energy usage but wondering if in the long run I am shooting myself in the foot by buying a cheaper flat upfront but paying more in the long run on bills. They are supposed to be EPC C when completed. I have been looking for over a year.

I know electric is currently 3-4 times the cost of gas.

I suppose offsetting that is maintenance is a lot cheaper with no yearly checks and I know some people say new builds have much better insulation and use the heating very rarely etc.

BeerSavesMoney

New build flats are usually well insulated, in the one bed we rented previously our annual usage was around 5500 kWhs. 

This was with heating the OSO hot water cylinder for two hours in the morning, occasionally boosting in the evening for a bath and with panel heaters (these were rarely on). Of course your mileage may vary.

This was before electric prices shot up so was manageable, if we were in the same scenario again I’d likely be looking at a suitable smart meter tariff to save on costs.

ProDave

BeerSavesMoney said:

New build flats are usually well insulated, in the one bed we rented previously our annual usage was around 5500 kWhs. 

That is shocking.  That is as much as I use in my self built (almost passive house) 3 bedroom detached house.

It is equally shocking that a new builds now are being built to such a poor standard that they only get an EPC C.  again mine has EPC A

The mass market builders still need a kick up the aris and be told to build properly.  If I can do it as a non professional self builder they really have no excuse not to build better.

NameUnavailable

A lot of purpose built flats are electric only.

EPC's are pretty useless, it's all so arbitary and not based on fact but assumptions. Also everyone is different and some people must live in a sauna and others can't stand any degree of warmth.

Flats also often benefit from heat from adjoining flats.

markin

Has the "Bristol bubble" burst? 

user1977

If you’re thinking long term, at which point do you think people will be viewing gas-heated properties negatively and worrying about the cost of replacing the central heating with an electric system? Makes sense that new builds are already installing electric.

(admittedly also cheaper for the developers!)

Not sure whether there are also sustainability brownie points now (when dealing with planners) if you can say it’s an all-electric development.

Jonboy_1984

BeerSavesMoney said:

New build flats are usually well insulated, in the one bed we rented previously our annual usage was around 5500 kWhs. 

This was with heating the OSO hot water cylinder for two hours in the morning, occasionally boosting in the evening for a bath and with panel heaters (these were rarely on). Of course your mileage may vary.

This was before electric prices shot up so was manageable, if we were in the same scenario again I’d likely be looking at a suitable smart meter tariff to save on costs.

We were around 6000kwh in a late 1980’s flat one bed with night storage heaters (epc D). 

I did some fag-packet calculations and the cash cost over the last 12 months would have been around the same as our current three bed mid-terraced property, which has just about double the floor space and has gas for the hot water and heating.

Edi81

My old one bed flat which was super well insulated was costing me about £80 per month in electricity. Only has the hot water on. Moved to a 4 bed terrace over 3 levels and my combined gas and electric isn’t much more in winter. 

ProDave

On a new build the EPC should not be a guess.

For my self build it had a proper FULL SAP assesment.  The assessor knew all the details of the exact floor wall and roof construction including how much and what type of insulation.  then all the individual components, the exact UW value for each window from the manufacturer, the make and model of the MVHR, ASHP and WBS.  And then the air tightness test result.  That gives an accurate SAP rating not some wild guess based on assumptions.  ALL new builds should be able to provide the information for that.

Electric heating makes perfect sense of course if you use a heat pump, which brings the heating cost down to comparable levels to a gas boiler, while being green.  How green depends on how green the electricity grid is, which is outside my control.  But in a rural self build with no mains gas, I did not want an oil tank or bulk LPG tank, so electric and ASHP made perfect sense.

MattMattMattUK

I am in a new(ish) build flat, built four years ago, EPC C, electric only, 110 sq. meters, middle floor, others on two sides (corner). I live alone, shower an average of nine times a week, dishwasher on twice a week, washing machine runs on average 5-6 times a week and have quite a bit of tech (smart home) as well as a high end gaming PC etc. I historically used around 3,700, this year I am actually more likely to use closer to 3,100 as I am in the office more. I do not tend to have the heating on much, I have not had it on yet this winter, not a huge amount last winter. Now that could well change if we have a really cold winter and I would then expect my costs to increase around £50 a month for really cold months, but currently my average is around £85-90 a month. 

Herzlos

What's providing the heat? Assuming it's a heat pump then it should be pretty efficient and potentially cheaper than gas to run.

Heat pumps aren't a legal requirement for new builds until 2025 though, so it could be an electric heater which will cost a lot to run.