Gas versus Electric boilers

[HawkEye244]

Hi all,
It looks like forms of non-renewable energy like gas will be outlawed in the coming future.
I'm thinking about upgrading my gas combi to a electric boiler and as only the boiler is using gas I could then have the meter removed.
Has anyone got personal experience of doing this?
Was the switch worth making?
Has it proven more or less costly in the long-run?
Thanks for any information.

 

[kidgreen61]

Gas is roughly a quarter of the cost of leccy, your bills will be enormous.

Gas will be with us for many years to come, despite what the doom mongers say.

 

[oldbutnotdead]

As above. Have a look at your gas bills at the moment for heating and your gas and electric costs per kwH and see what you would have paid for 80% of the gas kwH in electricity.
Electric boilers are not magic. They are more efficient (no exhaust, no startup/shutdown purging) and more controllable (infinite modulation) but your house will still need the same amount of energy to heat it. An electric combi will not deliver a good shower so you'll be back to a storage cylinder, header tank etc. if you have the room.
Assuming your combi is fairly modern and regularly serviced, keep it until ASHP or similar technology becomes affordable.

 

[ianmcd]

wouldnt even consider switching from gas to electric, I have a customer with a 9KW electric boiler 2 bed house and her electric bills in winter are over £200 per month

 

[flameport]

Electric boilers are a dead end, they use vast amounts of electricity and will cost a fortune to run.

If you are expecting any kind of performance from an electric combi boiler you can think again - at the absolute best it's the same as filling the kitchen sink or a bath using an electric shower, and that assumes the property has an electrical supply that's suitable. Many do not.

The only viable choice for electric heating is heat pumps, either air source or ground source.
At the moment, running costs for those are similar to gas, but the installation costs are far more. That will change in the future as they become cheaper to install and gas becomes more expensive.