Heat pumps are more cost effective to run than gas or oil boilers – we'll let that sink in...

The main questions a prospective customer tends to ask are:

1. How much will it cost to install a heat pump?

2. Will it keep my house warm?

3. How much will it cost to run?

1. There is currently a government grant of £7,500 towards the cost of installing a heat pump if it's replacing gas, oil or direct electric heating. The total cost will depend on the level of modifications required to the existing system but generally, from our experience, it costs the customer about the same as replacing a gas boiler.

2. As long as the heat pump and the radiators are sized correctly, a heat pump will keep your house warm.

3. We've posted previously explaining the terminology, flow temperatures and cost of fuel sources relative to each other. Feel free to have a look back through the blog for the geeky stuff, but the big news is – if you combine a latest generation heat pump such as the Samsung 16kW R290 with an innovative energy tariff such as Cosy Octopus, heat pumps are cheaper to run than gas or oil boilers.

Here's more info for those of you who like to understand the facts and figures....

The following overview is based on a real client installation we have scheduled for late October 2024. The relative costs of the various heating sources are based on the August 2024 data provided by the Nottingham Energy Partnership.

To provide 1 kW of heat into the property:

Direct electric heating	£0.285
Gas	£0.07
Oil	£0.068
ASHP using standard rate electricity, flow temperature of 500C	£0.077

So, the heat pump is more expensive? Not if you use a flexible tariff such as Cosy Octopus to power the heat pump...

ASHP using standard Cosy Octopus, on all the time, flow temperature of 500C

£0.052

If you go a step further and avoid using the heat pump during peak rate (4pm - 7pm), the running cost reduces to:

ASHP using standard Cosy Octopus, off during peak rate, flow temperature of 500C

£0.0475

Octopus Energy suggest that the heat pump is only used during the 3 cheapest times (8 hours split into 3 blocks). This may work if the property is well insulated but may not work for all installations. In this case the running costs come out at:

ASHP using standard Cosy Octopus, only on during the price dip, flow temperature of 500C

£0.029

In essence, it may be possible to reduce the running costs of the heat pump to 2.9 pence per kWh of heat supplied – less than half that of gas and oil.

A flow rate of 500C may not be sufficient for a retrofit, so the following provides the running costs for a flow temperature of 650C, which is sufficient for most existing installations:

ASHP using standard Cosy Octopus, on all the time, flow temperature of 650C	£0.069
ASHP using standard Cosy Octopus, off during peak rate, flow temperature of 500C	£0.063
ASHP using standard Cosy Octopus, only on during the price dip, flow temperature of 500C	£0.038

Even running the heat pump at a 650C flow temperature, it's no more expensive than gas and oil and has the potential of being over 40% cheaper with the right installation.

Get in touch with us to discuss options: enquiries@artimus-limited.co.uk or ring Steve on 07743 193390.