Electric Boilers v Oil

[lowfield]

After just paying 67p / litre for the last refill to the oil boiler system fitted in my house I have to ask the question is there a cheaper alternative now.

Having read about Electric Boilers I can see that my existing radiators would be ok to use but can get no idea about the running costs. I appreciate that a few years ago the electric alternative was the most expensive but as fuel costs are now rising so rapidly I'm not sure if this is still the case. Gas is not an option as it is not available where I live.

Can anyone give me an idea and some advise??
Many thanks
(ps - I live in a 3 bedroom detached),

 

[muggles]

Electric is still more expensive, especially if you need a new supply which is possible, the boilers are more to buy and more to run. Even if it was slightly cheaper it would almost certainly take longer than the life of a new boiler to recoup the cost of buying and installing one. Stick with the oil, when the time comes to change the boiler look again at the costs, it may be that LPG is cheaper by then

 

[Wangerman]

Can depends on the size of the boiler

Say it was a 10kw load this equates to roughly 45amps

Base this on a rate of 6.26p per kwh you are looking at about 63p an hour to run over 24 hrs this would cost £15.12 per day if used at full power continuously

Realistically its probably about half this about £7 say

 

[Tipper]

Oh no it's not, where do you get leccy at that price?

nPower's latest rise, advised in a letter to me yesterday, makes it nearly 17p for the first 728kWh and then 13p over that.

You must be living in the past!

 

[ivixor]

Depends on your tariff. Are you on economy 7? That increases the daytime cost substantially. It's still possible to get sub 10p/kwh tariffs.

Best get yourself over to http://www.moneysupermarket.com/gas-and-electricity/

 

[plumbelec]

After just paying 67p / litre for the last refill to the oil boiler system fitted in my house I have to ask the question is there a cheaper alternative now.

Having read about Electric Boilers I can see that my existing radiators would be ok to use but can get no idea about the running costs. I appreciate that a few years ago the electric alternative was the most expensive but as fuel costs are now rising so rapidly I'm not sure if this is still the case. Gas is not an option as it is not available where I live.

Can anyone give me an idea and some advise??
Many thanks
(ps - I live in a 3 bedroom detached),

Electric is always more expensive to run than N Gas, LPG or Oil. Just look at the independent comparison sites, they all have electric as the most expensive of the 3.

Do not however be fooled by economy 7 or 10 as when you use power most and need it most i.e winter, you are outwith their cheap rates.

I have installed all heating types and heat pumps, I would not fit a heat pump unless it was a well insulated new build or complete renovation.

There is a new bio-fuel coming to market B30K and it is going to be included in the RHI payment tariffs, the government will pay you a fixed fee tax free of around 7p per Kwh for bio fuels for 15 years.

Oil is more expensive to fit, however, the boilers if fitted correctly and serviced correctly will outlast a gas boiler.

Stick with the oil..... You know it makes sense

 

[mysteryman]

The fundamental thing about electricity is that it is not fuel. It is a means of distributing power - which can be used for all sorts of things, including heating.

A thermal power station uses a heat engine - a steam or gas turbine - to drive the generators. The heat engine can only convert, at best, about one third of its heat input into useful mechanical power to drive the generator. The other two thirds are dumped into the atmosphere - unless you have a Combined Heat and Power [CHP] plant.

Thus electric heating is using three times as much energy as an efficient boiler, when you allow for distribution losses. This is why it is so expensive.

Economy 7 and such tariffs merely distort the true cost, and on these tariffs the heat is not available when you want it.

Wind, water or wave energy do not use heat engines, and efficiency is much better - at a price in monetary terms and in the need for parallel generating capacity to cover downtimes.