A new Government report has admitted that heat pumps cost more to run than a traditional gas boiler. The Telegraph has the story:
Homeowners switching to heat pumps under Labour’s Net Zero drive face higher energy bills, a Government report has found.
Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, extended the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), which offers £7,500 subsidies to homeowners installing a heat pump, at a cost of £2.4 billion earlier this year.
Miliband justified the extra funding by claiming that installing technologies like solar, batteries, insulation and heat pumps “can save families hundreds of pounds a year on their bills”.
But the Telegraph can reveal that his own department’s impact assessment of the plan showed that homeowners who installed heat pumps would face additional energy costs from running the units.
Industry experts have known this for a long time. The problem lies in the fact that electricity invariably costs much more than gas, in energy terms. The current Ofgem price cap sets electricity at over four times the price of gas.
Even though heat pumps are more energy efficient than a gas boiler – they typically use a third of the amount of energy, assuming a well-insulated home – the overall energy bill for heating still works out about 20% higher, around £200 a year.
Even with gas prices currently elevated because of the Iran war, a gas boiler still remains a cheaper option. Meanwhile electricity prices will continue rising in years to come, thanks to expensive renewable energy,
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The yanks have heat pumps that are really jut air conditioners, perhaps in this hot weather a heat pump owner can reverse the flow and have a cool house?
But knowing their luck it won’t work that way in this country.
“Even with gas prices currently elevated because of the Iran war…”
That statement is incorrect. About 45% of UK gas comes from UK North Sea fields piped to GB so is not affected by prices on the global market. Most of the rest is LNG from USA and those contracted prices have been stable. Let’s stop mouthing Ed Milipede’s propaganda.
“…they typically use a third of the amount of energy, assuming a well-insulated home…”
Not quite. They “typically” use one third the amount of electricity for a given heat output, compared to a standard 1kW electric heater.
Electricity is secondary energy, so primary energy is required to produce it. Since that (in the UK) is mostly gas, and energy from gas is lost as heat in the power station, and electrical energy suffers transmission losses – up to 15% – then the true energy efficiency of heat pumps – plus *see below – is worse than gas-boilers.
If heat pumps were so energy efficient and so low cost to run, why is air-conditioning (these units are the sale heat pumps) considered so wasteful of energy and should be used less “to save the planet”?
*The… Read more »
…until the renewable subsidies are switched to gas.
Yes, that is the obvious idea for the retards to save their incoherent dream. Maybe now Prince Andrew of 80s Football Shirt is set to be anointed things can only get er…..um.
Any adult who couldn’t work this out for themselves really shouldn’t be allowed to vote.
So… that’s over half the population.
Has anyone calculated the effect on gas bills if the premises are as “well insulated” as the assumed heat-pumped home?
In other news, water found to make things wet!
Meanwhile, councils like mine press on with enforcing the eco-homes spec on new builds. There are going to be some very disappointed buyers, including some who fell for a local developer’s claims in their brochure: “They are built to the very latest energy efficiency standards with research by the HBF finding that iwners of a new build home can save up to a staggering £2,200* a year on their energy bills”.. Note the * In this particular case, they offer gas heating.
They are also sealed, so in the future these Eco homes will have terrible damp and condensation issues.
Eco disasters waiting to happen.
Heat pumps and solar PV – great technology, but entirely unsuited to Britain:
They both work best when least needed – hot summer’s days.
They are worst when needed most, cold dark winter evenings.
Utterly ridiculous to ne persuing this.
In his Doncaster constituency by the way. None of his cabinet colleagues have one!
Do as I say not as I do. Ed the hypocrite doesn’t even have a heat pump himself.
Perhaps that’s because Ed knows that installing a heat-pump also requires you to install far larger radiators…
So, in a nutshell, the government’s proposal to the general public is: spend £10,000 for a new heating system that will increase your bills.
The plan is: get everyone switched to electric for heating, cooking, transportation then ration it to get compliance in our brave new police State.
Mon Dieu! Who’d have thunk it?