Heat Pumps: Lower Electricity Bills for a Sustainable Future
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A lot has been written about heat pumps, with teh technology pushed as an efficient way to decarbonise our home heating and hot water systems. Yet, as brilliant as heat pumps are, there’s been a lot of negative coverage, including column inches on how homes can be colder and more expensive to run.
A lot of the negativity is based on myth, but some factors impact how much a heat pump could cost to run, and it’s time that the electricity system was overhauled to bring the cost down.
Gas vs electricity
Most homes in the UK have heat and hot water provided by a gas boiler,burning gas to create heat. The problem with this is twofold: gas releases CO2 when burned, and it’s also not especially efficient.
In fact, UK Government research from July 2023 showed that gas boilers are typically between 75% and 85% efficient. That means that for every kWh of input, only between 0.75kWh and 0.85kWh of heat is generated.
With a brand-new condensing boiler set to the correct temperatureefficiency can increase, but you’re still looking at 90%+ efficiency