Running a heat pump hits £1,251 – 27pc more than a boiler
By Paul Homewood
Finally the media is catching up with the truth about heat pumps!
The cost of running a heat pump in the average home will hit £1,251 this year, which is 27pc more than a traditional boiler.
The bills will soar due to the rising energy price cap, which limits how much suppliers can charge for gas and electricity. It will increase by 54pc from April, meaning the average home will pay £1,971 over a year.
This means gas boilers will cost £400 more to run than previously. But they are still hundreds of pounds cheaper than using a heat pump, new analysis has found.
The cost of heating the average home with a new gas boiler will climb from £584 to £984, according to analysis of Ofgem figures by the Energy and Utilities Alliance, a trade body. Meanwhile the cost of the equivalent amount of heat generated by a heat pump running at the minimum level of efficiency will rise from £919 to £1,251.
This means that homes heated using traditional means, such as a boiler, could save roughly £267 over the course of a year, despite seeing a bigger rise in bills. They would emit around 1,415kg more carbon over the year than heat pump users, the EUA said.
For larger homes the cost difference is even more dramatic. The cost of running a heat pump over a year in a five-bedroom house will increase from April from £1,301 to £1,773.
Meanwhile, the cost of heating the same house with a gas boiler would increase from £787 to £1,352, some £421 less than a heat pump.
The Prime Minister has vowed to wean British households off natural gas as part of his pledge to hit net zero by 2050. By 2025 builders will be banned from fitting conventional gas boilers in new-build homes. There are also plans to ban the sale of new boilers by 2035 for all households.
To help reach carbon emission targets, the Government wants 600,000 heat pumps to be installed each year by 2028.
But they come at a considerable cost. Purchasing and installing a heat pump can typically cost between £12,000 to £15,000. For older and listed homes it can be much more, with some homeowners incurring costs of more than £50,000 for the insulation, excavation and new radiators necessary for a ground source pump.
Poorly insulated and drafty homes also lower a heat pump’s efficiency, raising running costs and carbon emissions. This means households may have to spend additional money on upgrading to ensure their heat pump runs effectively.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/consumer-affairs/running-heat-pump-hits-1251-27pc-boiler/
There has been a lot of misinformation from the renewable lobby to the effect that running costs are lower for heat pumps. While this may be true when replacing electrical heating, it most certainly is not compared to a gas boiler, as I have long pointed out.
The figures of £984 for gas and £1251 for electric shown in the article correspond closely to mine:
The new OFGEM energy cap is:
Electricity – 28p/KWh
Gas – 7p/KWh
My calculations assume that an average house needs 12,000 KWh for heat; with 85% efficiency a gas boiler would therefore need 14117 KWh, costing £988 pa.
A heat pump working at an average efficiency of 2.7 would use 4444 KWh, costing £1244 pa.
What these calculations miss out however is the provision of hot water. A typical heat pump cannot provide water as hot as a gas boiler, unless run at extremely inefficient levels.
It is therefore likely that homeowners will need to either add an electric immersion heater, which will quadruple the cost of using gas, or have some sort of top up using gas. The latter will not increase running costs, but will add to capital costs, (as of course the immersion tank would).
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
My son’s gas heating includes an expensive pressurised hot water tank and even this has a rated energy loss of 1.5kWh/day. It all adds up.
“1.5kWh/day”
That would be 62.5 W.
Not bad, and in most homes it is used to keep the airing cupboard warmish.
In this case, the losses will be offset by reduced boiler cycling, as would be the case with a conventional combi (or at least he hopes so). How this translates to a cylinder heated by ASP or immersion heater, not sure.
Charles Moore, in the Daily Telegraph, writes about how important it is for Britain to grow more of its own food. And the technology mentioned appears to have been implemented in a sensible way.
I think this Energy Crisis has shocked people, burst their bubble, and they are realising just how they have been misled, and for so long, about so much.
I wonder who will adapt to reality first: the government or the BBC.
Even Stevens I think but please someone wake up and dispel this folly.
Yes there are several things we need to keep ‘in house’ in the UK
The first is energy-our policy* being all the more baffling as we import the stuff we could produce locally. The second being food. The govt seems determined to increase our imports by rewilding, forests and turning farming into glamping and camping experiences.
* The word ‘policy’ is clearly being used in a satirical, indeed slightly hysterical fashion. Indeed, like God, can a ‘policy’ be proven to exist?
On form, neither but their insults to us will lead to their being rumbled as the traitors to “modern” civilisation they are.
They deserve a (parliamentary) guillotine, a military takeover perhaps if no political party will see sense and save our civilisations heaven help us all, even the sane Greens, if any?ñ none
Please note that this is a valid calculation for an individual householder, but it does not take into account the energy cost of producing the electricity. And we pay for that one way or another – and some would even worry about the CO2 that might be produced generating the electricity.
As a nation, we need to draw the system boundary around the whole operation, including the generator of electricity – whatever the means. That way, we know if we are really saving “harmful” emissions.
Greens might argue that Co2 produced in one place, where electricity is generated, is safer as you can deploy CCS – should it ever work – which you cannot when burning gas in a home, or fuel in an ice car…
“Greens might argue that Co2 produced in one place, where electricity is generated, is safer as you can deploy CCS – should it ever work – which you cannot when burning gas in a home ….”
That argument is very flaky.
1. CCS incurs a significant parasitic electricity load, almost 25% of the power plant’s output.
2. Distributing electricity via our National Grid from points of generation to points of consumption incur greater energy transmission losses than distributing natural gas along our national gas grid.
3. Natural gas consumed in a modern domestic gas boiler is at approx twice the thermal efficiency of gas consumed in a power generating station, so has approx half the CO2-emissions per useful (heat) kWh.
Jo, I agree 100%. Just wanted to put the other side of the argument. Sadly, most journalists have no idea about these matters. I challenged “Countryfile” when they contrasted to efficiency of a heat pump and a gas boiler. No reply! Not surprised…
Paul and Jo, keep up the good work. Some my understand some time!
You are spot on Paul. We have been using an ASHP for 11 years now. Our usage is about 12,500 kWh per annum. Cost this last calendar year was £2,400 mainly because our fixed price deal stopped in September when Green Energy went bust and our kWh rate increased from 13 p/kWh to 21 p/kWh and our RHI payments also finished last year. This year is going to be fun – NOT! I wish we had mains gas but we don’t.
My ASHP has used between 15,900 and 19,300 kWh per year over the last 8 years giving an average consumption of 17,250 kWh. Admittedly, a relatively large bungalow built in 2011 so well insulated with underfloor heating with a bedroom above the garage with radiators. It also heats the domestic water. Similar story, RHI finished, very cheap supplier went bust then the replacement went bust and now with British Gas charging 21.180p per kWh. I run the ASHP 24/7, as recommended, on the weather dependent settings which is supposed to be the most efficient. Can’t wait for surge pricing as we have no choice but to leave the heat pump working.
Hewan. Interesting that your experience reflects ours. Lucky you with underfloor heating, so much better than rads. We couldn’t afford to install u/f back in the mid nineties when we refurbed. We run exactly as you do. Better buy a few more socks and jerseys, or heated gilet maybe!!
Hewan
“I run the ASHP 24/7, as recommended, on the weather dependent settings which is supposed to be the most efficient.”
Advocates of heat pumps invariably fail to mention they have to run for far more hours than a swift-response boiler, and so despite having a reasonable CoP, energy usage is greater than necessary.
Although you run yours 24/7, do you have the facility to reduce the temperature during the period from (say) 11:30pm to (say) 5:30 am?
The figures you are quoting are similar to those of a near neighbour of mine who transferred from oil to an ASHP (against my advice and to his deep regret!). Even now heating oil is about 67p/l on a 1000l order. With an energy density of about 10.4kWh per litre and a 92% efficiency rate from an oil boiler, your 17,250 kWh would come in at around £1,200 of oil. Might pay you to consider heating oil.
I am fortunate enough to be the last house in my village on the gas main but even if I were not there is no way whatsoever I would move to any form of heat pump..
I recently came across Grant oil combi boilers when looking for a family member who is hitting £400 a month electric bills with their ASHP set up. Worth checking out if gas isn’t possible.
What a surprise (not). I will keep my oil-boiler going as long as possible. I believe that it is at least 25 years old and, according to the boiler-service man, still running as efficiently as ever. The price of oil fluctuates, but it has never been excessive and is not much more than it was 4 years ago.
The calculations of heat pump running costs are highly likely to be underestimated.
They fall into the trap of using average electricity prices which use proportions of on-peak and off-peak prices.
However, space heating demand cannot effectively & affordably be time-shifted, Consequently, most heat pumps use most electricity for most of the time ‘on-peak’. And that’s mostly Winter on-peak too.
Octopus Energy kindly provides detailed info on their ‘Agile’ prices intended to encourage their customers to time-shift certain demands. However, check out the prices for demand that cannot be time-shifted.
e.g. Jan 2022 – West Midlands – “Average price for this month = 32.0p (Avg peak = 34.9p, Avg Offpeak = 31.6p)”
Even worse, their average price for the hours between 4am and midnight was closer to their maximum cap of 35p/kWh
https://agileprices.co.uk/?fromdate=20220131
Yes, occasionally in the middle of a sunny summer afternoon Octopus Agile has free or even negative prices. But no one will be running a heat pump for space heating during those periods.
With heating running at peak periods heat pumps will be more expensive that average electricity prices.
Are modern storage heaters a better option? Can be used in individual rooms as we’re being told is necessary and there’s a chance your smart meter might not switch it off all night or every night.
https://www.storageheatersdirect.com/
The drawback of (night) storage heaters is the fickleness of British weather.
Or owners decide on the spur of the moment to go out for the day, having already ‘paid’ to have the heaters heated up.
The modern versions are far better & more controllable than the ‘Piles of bricks’ that were NSHs when first introduced all those decades ago. 😉
“But no one will be running a heat pump for space heating during those periods.”
My heat pump system reverses in summer and becomes an air conditioner. I do not use that much because opening the windows at night allows the house to cool. That is an advantage of living at an elevation (682 m.; 2240 ft.) where radiation cooling is frequent.
” They would emit around 1,415kg more carbon over the year than heat pump users, the EUA said. ”
I would like to see the calculations which support that statement. I suspect they used the average “carbon intensity” of UK power. In my view that would be inappropriate as a new heat pump is an incremental load, adding to demand. As such it will be supplied by the incremental producer – probably gas, possibly coal – since all of the nuclear and renewable production is already allocated (nearly all the time).
So I doubt if even a modern CCGT would be more efficient than a modern condensing boiler, especially once transmission and transformer losses are taken into account.
The same Telegraph (today) carried an article by Matthew Lynn (Fracking would have saved Britain from the energy crisis) in which he writes “we could have had vast supplies coming on stream now”.
Estimates odf shale gas potential in Poland are that it has the largest in Europe and the politicians have repeatedly promised that shale gas will replace Russian gas imports and even bring about an LNG export busines. The whole story is to be found in a 2021 article at
link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11053-021-04858-w
which in the conclusion states “To date, no commercial production from shales has been established. Both international and national companies engaged in prospecting or exploration between 2010 and 2016 have left Poland or abandoned shaled realated activities”. The writers draw many parallels with the UK and put the failures down mainly to “difficult geology” (they don’t refer specifically to permeability) and the vast numbers of wells needed to produce significantly. Worth having a look at.
It would be great to find just WHO allowed Ofgen to hike their price cap to such dizzy heights, thereby allowing the present utilities villains to severely rip us all off, in a big way..
Really? Has 26 energy companies going bust not given you a slight hint that they were not making any money? Do you have a secret economic model where selling a commodity for less than you paid for it somehow makes a big profit?
I understand the point you are making Gerry, but something is really not making a lot of sense here. Red Diesel (low fuel duty) is only about 70p per litre on a bulk delivery even now. A basic small genny can manage better than 30% efficiency at its optimum load. A friends Yanmar can deliver 3kW @3000rpm using just 1litre per hour. That’s less than 24p per kWh on such a tiny scale. Surely some of the current quoted rates do not make sense.
“Poorly insulated and drafty homes…”
I know it’s trivial, but how come the DT is using the American spelling of ‘draughty’? Different audience?
Meanwhile Paul today’s Times headline on page 4 is “Soaring gas prices will make heat pump the cheaper choice”. They assume a heat pump will use 3,000kWh compared with a gas boiler’s gross 12,000kWh. This appears to be for both heating and hot water.
They say that from April, the gas option will go from £464 per year to £841, while the heat pump option will go from £589 to £833, all according to our old friends Octopus Energy.
I am not too sure I believe that but I’ll leave you to do the full sums 🙂
They are claiming an efficiency factor of 4.0 for heat pumps, which is basically impossible in our climate
In the right conditions, it’s possible for a heat-pump to have a Coefficient of Performance (CoP) of 4.
But the ‘right’ conditions are not applicable for all the time a HP is in use. Hence the Building Research Establishment’s “Annual efficiency estimates”
https://www.bregroup.com/heatpumpefficiency/index.jsp
The Efficiency figure would have been measured in a laboratory at a Standard temperature (probably 23℃). It would be much lower when the outside temperature is minus 5℃ or less, but that is when you want to heat your house.
Of course, if the outside temperature is 35℃ and you wished to heat your house you will get a very efficient response.
So I think your figure of 2.7 is an accurate average.
Paul,
the common mistake is to use coefficient of performance as an efficiency rating. It is not as electricity is a carrier and not a source of energy. When the losses in generating and supplying the electricity is added heat pumps, particularly, air source don’t come out too well. I also have my doubts for the CoP of ground source. If it sounds to good to be true etc.
Joe Public: thanks for that link. The charts really make clear how these things perform and the effect of different operating conditions.
If every house is compelled to have one of these there is a high risk of the local distribution system being overloaded as the design of the distribution system relies upon diversity ie we don’t all have everything turned on at the same time. Its fortunate that our forefathers had the foresight to size the system as big as they did given the growth in electricity demand but everything has its limit. Be far more beneficial to improve the insulation of the housing stock and reduce emissions that way.
Is there any fundamental reason why a gas boiler can’t be replaced by an electric one? There are adverts for them now, they don’t look all that expensive and don’t need new radiators.
Obviously electricity costs more than gas, but most other options will be electric too in the end. It will help to have a hot water cylinder already, or the initial cost shoots up.
None other than your mains infeed probably won’t be able to support more than 7kw so you would need an upgraded supply.
Yes. There is s programme on the HP and we also have thermostat in every room. But if we turn it down at night it takes ages to come up to the required temperature, especially if the weather has changed overnight. The manufacturer’s advice is to use weather dependent settings and not the programme.
Me?
I’m topping up my investments in tar & feathers futures.
Our local plumber says that he has to use an immersion heater in any ASHP system he installs set to get the temperature up to 65°C once a week to reduce the risk of legionella infecting the water system. Another on-cost for ASHPs.
My view is we are going back to the 1960s before “Natural Gas” arrived.
Electric storage heating for the masses, and instead of coal fires, woodburners will be commonplace.
Heat pumps are a passing fad. Most people will not be able to afford them.
Well, it seems that this article is about geothermal heat pumps, which although their installation costs are “high”, they have the highest COP (to my understanding can be above 4 most of the time). However, the article appears to be biased at best by basing the operating costs of the heat pumps on “a heat pump running at the minimum (?) level of efficiency”.
Additionally, the article fails to mention the inherent hazards of boilers: CO poisoning, and explosions/fires.
Read the article properly and you will see that the level of efficiency is actually reasonable for a typical house. The reference to “minimum” refers to the level of insulation
In other words if you spend £20k on insulation, you might get slightly better efficiency
I don’t know where you get the geothermal bit from? Do you mean ground source heat pumps? But the article clearly refers to air source
Here’s a new design which claims to meet many of the criticisms of typical heat pump designs:
https://r744.com/swedish-company-launches-home-co2-heat-pump-for-space-and-hot-water-heating-vattenfall/
I haven’t dug into the details of how it works but have noticed that it’s a chunky bit of kit and the peak power load of 11 kW will cause problems for most domestic systems.