Homes with heat pumps to ‘pay more for heating than gas boiler customers’

The cost of heating from heat pumps is higher by £267 a year, according to new research

The price of heating with the new price cap from April will be higher for homes using heat pumps than gas boilers.

That’s one of the findings of an Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) analysis of figures from energy regulator Ofgem which suggests the cost of heating the average home with a heat pump will jump from £919 to £1,251.

The trade body found that generating the same amount of heating with a gas boiler would cost £984, rising from £584.

This translates to a saving of nearly £267.

The report suggests the cost of running a heat pump in a five-bedroom house will soar to £1,773 from £1,301.

In comparison, heating the same house with a gas boiler will increase from £787 to £1,352.

Mike Foster, Chief Executive OF EUA, told ELN: “The analysis suggests that at the minimum efficiency rates the appliances come with, which is 92% efficiency for a gas boiler, 250% efficiency for an air source heat pump and the price cap figures that Ofgem recently announced, it suggests that a heat pump would cost something in the region of £268 a year more to heat your home than it would do using a condensing gas boiler.

“That is based on the Ofgem typical domestic consumption figure of 12,000kWh of gas.

“I think people need to be careful that they fit a heat pump into a home that’s suitable for it. So a highly energy efficient home will give a higher efficiency rating for the way in which your system operates and the ability to convert your unit of input energy into the heat that comes out.

“A lot has to do with the unit price, the efficiency of your product and the efficiency of your home. The analysis suggests that a heat pump is not the sole answer to decarbonising people’s homes. You are better having a gas boiler in many circumstances, but that gas boiler to reach net zero has got to be run on a net zero compatible gas, such as hydrogen.”

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