I’ve come across this post on LinkedIn and thought I’d put a link here and file it under “useful information for people thinking about getting a heat pump”.
Chris Worboys | How to run a heat pump for 80-90% less than a gas boiler
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-run-heat-pump-80-90-less-than-gas-boiler-chris-worboys-nlc3e/
The main idea of the article is very similar to that of the presentation I attended last summer titled Unlocking Home Efficiency: The Value of Multiple Technologies, which I wrote about here.
To recap:
- Electricity is much more expensive than gas in the UK on the kWh basis, but heat pumps is more efficient than gas boilers, so it’s possible to run a heat pump without the energy bill skyrocketing as long as the system is well designed, installed and commissioned
- You can reduce the bill further by switching to a smart, time of use tariff
- Solar panels can drastically cut the annual bill by earning you export income in summer that cushions you in winter
- A home battery enables you to use free solar power after the sun goes down, which further reduces your bill
It’s an interesting and useful article with lots of charts illustrating how the savings are made, so do go and read it in full. For me, it’s only a few months since my heat pump was commissioned so don’t know what the annual bill will look like until autumn, but so far it’s looking promising – I’ll report back with my real-world numbers in autumn.
Related read: Unlocking Home Efficiency: The Value of Multiple Technologies
Related read: Load shifting with smart tariff – Part 2