Many UK homeowners are asking as they consider making the switch to low-carbon heating. In this episode of Homeowners’ Q&A, we explore the practical realities of heat pump costs, efficiency and performance during the colder months.
With insights from industry experts Max Waddingham (Good Energy), Rob Stevens (Heat Pump Expert) and Barry Sharp (Renewable Heat), the discussion dives into factors that impact running costs, such as weather compensation, system design and smart usage. But this episode isn’t just about numbers – it’s about how modern heating systems can transform the comfort of your home, the importance of installation quality and the future of low-carbon heating in the UK.
No they are not. They are rubbish. I know I have one. 25k to install and 5k electric bill in first year and that was before prices went up. We have cut back on using the heat pump to heat the house and are now using a 10kw log burner. Our bill is now around 3 k. I would add that we live in Greece, where the climate is supposed to provide optimal efficiency for the running of these heaps of expensive junk
If that’s true you must have had a terrible installation job done. We switched from oil to heat pump last summer and have had
an excellent experience.
Oil is the cheapest form of heating, you must be biased in some way, do you install heat pumps?
Unless you are super keen and have plenty of spare cash, a simple analysis of the current situation in the UK shows that a heat pump isn’t a good option in comparison to a gas boiler, especially if running cost is an important factor. A hybrid system is going to be even worse and more expensive.
Starting at the beginning, a heat pump is more expensive to buy than a gas boiler.
Then, unless your house is a new build that has been correctly designed for a heat pump, the heat pump is likely to be more expensive to install than a gas boiler, as you will likely need to replace/alter existing radiators, pipe work etc. that was designed to work with a gas boiler to get the best efficiency from a heat pump. Also, installing a gas boiler is commonplace and something that most competent plumbers are capable of. Installing a heat pump, however, is a still a relatively specialist job, and therefore you have limited options for installers, and due to the laws of supply and demand, they will therefore charge more.
Obviously, the running costs as stated in the video are not massively different averaged out over a year, although it would seem that any inefficiencies with a heat pump system are going to cost a lot more than similar inefficiencies with a gas boiler, due to the price of gas being lower than the price of electricity. You are also more likely to suffer from accidental inefficiencies with a heat pump system, as the system settings have to be spot on, and unless you are experienced or are using an expert installer, it is probable that you may not have your system settings at optimal.
Maintenance on a gas boiler, while it may come around sooner/more often than on a heat pump, is also likely to be cheaper than on a heat pump for multiple reasons: as previously pointed out, any competent plumber can perform maintenance on a gas boiler, as opposed to the specialist required for a heat pump, so call out charges will be less for gas boiler maintenance. Parts for gas boilers are also more readily available, and therefore cheaper (supply and demand and not ‘specialist’), and also more likely to have a shorter lead time.
While a heat pump may be supposed to last you 15-20 years as opposed to the 10-12 you should get from your gas boiler, in my personal opinion, I don’t think it will, because while gas boiler are already as efficient as they can be, and therefore you wouldn’t replace one before the end of its effective life, with a heat pump, they are still making advances in efficiency all the time and therefore in 10 years you would probably swap out your heat pump anyway as there will be one that’s at least 50 percent more efficient than one you’ve installed now by then, making it a false economy to claim that a heat pump will last longer than a gas boiler.
A hybrid system is worse on all counts as you double the cost of everything, and it’s even more specialist than a standard heat pump so you’ll be charged even more for install and maintenance.
My advice would be wait a few years until: they’ve doubled the efficiency of heat pumps, lowering the running cost, and heat pumps have become more common place and less specialist so you get the benefits of lower upfront cost due to mass production, lower install cost because of a wider range of installers being available, and a lower cost of replacement parts.
I have a 1910 well insulated semi detached 2 bed house and have had a heat pump for 7 weeks. In that time it has been on 24/7 which is more efficient. My house is at 21 degrees day and night with lots of hot water. I have no gas at all now. The consumption has been 615kW or about 12 kW per day. The total cost of this energy over the 50 days or so comes to 12 hours at 7p per hour and 12 hours at 25p per hour or about £4 per day. This equates to just over £100 per month. It is actually cheaper than that since I have solar panels and batteries which modify the costs. I am 110% convinced of the value of heat pumps and the fact that the taxpayers have paid for 75% of the £10,000 installation is great. Thank you all very much.
How do.you.get electricity at these rates? 7p and 25p?
I also have those prices – EON next drive
Octopus Go
Scary, I have a 2018 5 bed detached in Scotland and gas is only used for hot water and heating. Gas bills from Nov to Mar are between £45 to £65 a month so can’t justify switching a heat pump as there would never be return on the investment.
Why are we constantly fed biased tv programs on the effectiveness of AHPS. Recent C5 programs have someone over the moon on saving 50p per day having spent £20k on an installation, it also showed a thermostat set to 18degC. At a saving of less than £200 pa it would not pay fpr itself this century. Never mind that if the thermostat was set to 20.5 degC instead of saving 50p per day it would likely cost an extra £1 per day at least.
All the talk is about inefficient radiators needing to be replaced they are only inefficient because of the low water temparature. I had thought high temperature two stage ASHPs might resolve the low temperature problem and run at 75 degC, but there seems to be a restriction that they must not operate at that temparature for more than 1% of the time, never mind that the efficiency would then be closer to 2 to 1 rather than 4 to 1.
How many people have the space to accomodate the vast amount of internal control equipment and storage tanks.
The suggestion that solar panels are capable of generating enough electricity to run the ASHP is totally misleading there is no way that they are capable of generating the extra 18,000 kwh to replace my gas heating requirements, mine produce 3,200 kwh whch is used to cover the normal house load.
I don’t believe that it is cost effective to keep a house at 20degC 24 hours a day rather than heating occupied rooms as required.
Nothing about ASHPs makes sense unless electicity is produced with zero carbon emissions and costs less than gas at 6p per kwh and the installation costs are reduced substantially
Seem to be some real heat pump haters getting involved in the conversation!
We have a 1960s detached on the outskirts of Edinburgh which we renovated and extended about 18 months ago. As part of the renovation we had an ASHP, solar and a 9.5kwh battery installed. There was existing cavity wall insulation but I did a bit of additional insulation work, 80mm PIR under the floors, 170mm in the loft. Underfloor heating throughout the ground floor and rads upstairs.
Pre renovation the house was freezing most of the time. The boiler would work flat out to get it up to temperature but as soon as the heating went off it would lose heat very quickly. In winter energy bills were around £4-500 per month.
Now, the house is always 21⁰C during the day and 19⁰ overnight, slightly lower in the bedrooms. Bills are approx £300 in very cold winter months and £10 in the height of summer, with the help of the solar. Should say we have no gas now, cooking is done on an induction hob. And I have an EV in the drive which accounts for 80kwh per week. The 7p overnight tariff from octopus helps with that.
We got a 0% loan and grant from the Scottish government scheme which is £131 per month over 10 years. I’m easily saving money every year AND more importantly, the house is comfortable 24/7.
Yes, I did a lot of insulation work but my neighbour 5 doors down had an ASHP installed without doing much insulation work and his house is comfortable too. For people to say ASHP do not work in uninsulated houses is just not necessarily true. They’ll work in most houses if designed correctly.
As for the horror stories you read like the chap here who spent £5k on electricity after having an ASHP installed, I’m genuinely sympathetic but that’s clearly a very very bad installation. They do happen, like in any industry there will always be chancers and cowboys.
My experience has been incredibly positive and I’m sorry some people have had bad experiences but from reading many forums they seem to be the minority.