Heating
What would changing your heating really cost to run?
Every system here is compared on the same amount of useful heat, so a unit of gas is never treated as a unit of electricity. Start with the figures you already gave in My Energy and change anything that isn't right for your home.
Running-cost comparison only. Not a heat-loss survey, installer quote or recommendation.
How your home is heated now
What that fuel is used for
Cooking and anything else is kept out of the heating comparison. These three always total 100%.
That works out as 7,671 kWh of useful heat a year — 6,460 kWh for the rooms and 1,211 kWh for hot water.
What you're thinking of instead
The prices used
Using the figures you gave in My Energy. Editing below changes this page only.
Where the money goes
| Each year | Gas boiler | Air source heat pump |
|---|---|---|
| Heating the rooms | £557 | £562 |
| Hot water | £104 | £144 |
| Cooking or other fuel | £35 | £0 |
| Gas standing charge | £106 | £106 |
| Total | £802 | £812 |
The new system would need 2,704 kWh of electricity a year to deliver the same heat.
What it does to the whole bill
Your electricity use would rise by roughly 2,704 kWh a year. Everything you don't use for heating is left exactly as it is, so nothing is counted twice.
Paying for it
On these figures the new system costs more to run, so there's nothing for the up-front cost to pay back. That can still be the right choice for other reasons — but it isn't a saving.
When the cost falls in the year
An illustrative pattern for the new system. Heating is concentrated in winter, so a monthly average hides the real shape.
Based on a fixed seasonal pattern (17% of space heating in January), with hot water spread evenly. Your own year will differ.
Worth knowing before you decide
- At your prices, a heat pump would need a seasonal performance of about 3.03 just to match your present running cost. You've assumed 3.00.
- You'd still pay the £106 a year gas standing charge, because the gas supply is being kept.
What your figures show
What if…
Move one assumption at a time and see what changes. Your saved baseline remains unchanged. Each slider changes one thing on its own.
Electricity price
26.11p
Changing only this would make the yearly extra cost about £10.
That's the same as your own figures.
Gas price
7.33p
Changing only this would make the yearly extra cost about £10.
That's the same as your own figures.
Seasonal performance
3.00
Changing only this would make the yearly extra cost about £10.
That's the same as your own figures.
Honest limits
- Seasonal performance varies a lot between homes, installers and winters.
- The split between heating, hot water and cooking is your estimate, not a meter reading.
- Installation costs vary widely and can only be settled by a survey.
- Insulation work usually changes the answer more than the system choice does.
Your heating figures are saved on this device only. No account, no email address, no quotes, no sales calls.
This clears only the heating settings saved in this browser. The saved heating comparison shown on the Tariffs page goes with it. My Energy, Solar, Battery and EV are untouched.
Performance assumptions start from 3 for an air source heat pump and 90% for a new gas boiler. Both are editable planning figures, not promises.
So what?
Air source heat pump looks around £10 a year more expensive to run than gas boiler.
Both systems are compared on the same 7,671 kWh of useful heat a year, so this is a running-cost comparison rather than a like-for-like unit price.
At today's prices, a seasonal performance above about 3.03 is what keeps a heat pump cheaper to run here — you've assumed 3.00.
What you could do next
Based on your result, these are the numbers worth checking next. You stay in control — no sales calls from us.
Check the electricity price this depends on
A heat pump's running cost is most sensitive to your electricity price, and a cheaper rate can move the comparison.
Compare tariffsRevisit your gas and electricity prices
These figures are pulled from My Energy or the tariff you're comparing — keep them current for an accurate result.
Open My EnergySee whether solar changes the running cost
Solar generation in the same months as your heating demand can offset some of the electricity a heat pump uses.
Explore solarUnderstand the heat-pump decision
The Heat Pump Guide explains efficiency, home suitability, day-to-day use and what to ask before buying.
Read the Heat Pump Guide
Common questions about heating running costs
- Does a heat pump cost less to run than gas?
- It depends on the gap between your electricity and gas prices and the heat pump's seasonal performance (SCOP). A higher SCOP means more useful heat from each unit of electricity, which can offset electricity usually costing more per unit than gas — this calculator shows the break-even performance at your own prices.
- What does SCOP mean?
- SCOP is the seasonal coefficient of performance — the average useful heat a heat pump produces per unit of electricity it uses across a typical year, accounting for colder and warmer months. A SCOP of 3 means roughly three units of heat for every unit of electricity used.
- How does the comparison keep things fair between systems?
- It fixes the amount of useful heat delivered to the home and works out what each system would need to burn or draw to deliver that same amount, based on its efficiency or performance. That way a unit of gas is never compared directly with a unit of electricity.
- What changes the answer the most?
- The gap between your electricity and gas (or other fuel) prices, and the performance figure you assume for the proposed system, matter most. Standing charges, hot water arrangements and any cheap-rate electricity share also shift the result, which is why they're all editable above.
- When would it make sense to keep the current system?
- If the assumed performance of the proposed system sits below the break-even figure shown, or the up-front cost takes many years to come back at the estimated saving, the current system may still be the lower-cost choice on running costs alone.
Based on your result, these numbers are worth checking next
Your saved figures will come with you.