Alternative heating costs - electric / solar / district heating / heat pumps

[Stu999]

I was recently looking at a house on a new build estate but found out it was heated via district heating and reviews of the estate say the costs of this are very high (£1/day standing charge plus the unit cost itself).

I was searching online but there is limited information about what people are really paying for these alternative heating types such as electric combi boilers, heat pumps, solar systems and district heating.

Anyone have experience of this and could give some indicative monthly costs?

For context I currently do not use much energy, paying about £57/month for gas and electricity for a 2-bed flat with one person.

 

[gort]

What is the unit cost for the district heating?
Would need this figure to be able to compare better.
Standing charge may be high but the cost per kWh may be lower.

 

[BUDFORCE]

I was recently looking at a house on a new build estate but found out it was heated via district heating and reviews of the estate say the costs of this are very high (£1/day standing charge plus the unit cost itself).

Don't go near it.

 

[Stu999]

Don't go near it.

Are you speaking from experience? I don’t think many people realise these district heating schemes are becoming more and more common for new build estates, even being required in order to get planning permission.

@gort I don’t know the rate for this particular scheme but ballpark numbers I’ve heard are 6-9p / KWh.

 

[ZG002]

Are you speaking from experience? I don’t think many people realise these district heating schemes are becoming more and more common for new build estates, even being required in order to get planning permission.

@gort I don’t know the rate for this particular scheme but ballpark numbers I’ve heard are 6-9p / KWh.

Yep, I've taken a look over some plans for the new builds my company will be building next phase and all have heat pumps.

I've no experience with a new build and district heating but we do have a fair few schemes that have been running for years, do you know if it's standard gas boilers or have the gone eco on that also?

In general, anything where you have to use electricity to boost water temps will cost you £££

 

[Stu999]

…do you know if it's standard gas boilers or have the gone eco on that also?

Yeah, they have heat exchanger units rather than gas boilers.

 

[Macky]

As society moves away from the use of fossil fuels this will become more common. If you're intending on staying in the house for a long time (15+) years, I don't think the district heating is a bad thing. Houses with existing gas boilers will need to be replaced with some sort of greener heating method. The capital investment on this alone will be likely be enormous.

 

[SimonR]

The Grid in the UK does not have the capacity for the country to move from gas to Electric heating, period. Add to that that we still dont have enough electricity generation and getting rid of fossil fuel heating in the UK is currently pie in the sky. Compound this with the move to electric cars (something like 20% of UK housing stock is still on 40amp main incommer fuses - so you cant have a shower AND charge your car) and you realise what a mess this is in reality. It is more likely that we will adding hydrogen to mains gas to increase its calorific value and stick with more efficient fossil fuel boilers for at least another 20 years. If the government really did want us to move to renewables (such as solar) then they would legislate that all new houses have to have solar panels as standard, but they dont...so here we are.

 

[ZG002]

The Grid in the UK does not have the capacity for the country to move from gas to Electric heating, period. Add to that that we still dont have enough electricity generation and getting rid of fossil fuel heating in the UK is currently pie in the sky. Compound this with the move to electric cars (something like 20% of UK housing stock is still on 40amp main incommer fuses - so you cant have a shower AND charge your car) and you realise what a mess this is in reality. It is more likely that we will adding hydrogen to mains gas to increase its calorific value and stick with more efficient fossil fuel boilers for at least another 20 years. If the government really did want us to move to renewables (such as solar) then they would legislate that all new houses have to have solar panels as standard, but they dont...so here we are.

Pretty much, that's how I see it also.

 

[Stu999]

As society moves away from the use of fossil fuels this will become more common. If you're intending on staying in the house for a long time (15+) years, I don't think the district heating is a bad thing. Houses with existing gas boilers will need to be replaced with some sort of greener heating method. The capital investment on this alone will be likely be enormous.

I don’t disagree with the need for it and certainly not against greener technology. My main concern with district heating is it is completely unregulated so the supplier can bang up the standing charges and unit rates any time they like. You are also contracted into using that supplier for anywhere between 25 and 80 years!

Agree installing an alternative will be costly and some others like air source heat pumps seem like bad options.

 

[Shimmyhill]

The Grid in the UK does not have the capacity for the country to move from gas to Electric heating, period. Add to that that we still dont have enough electricity generation and getting rid of fossil fuel heating in the UK is currently pie in the sky. Compound this with the move to electric cars (something like 20% of UK housing stock is still on 40amp main incommer fuses - so you cant have a shower AND charge your car) and you realise what a mess this is in reality. It is more likely that we will adding hydrogen to mains gas to increase its calorific value and stick with more efficient fossil fuel boilers for at least another 20 years. If the government really did want us to move to renewables (such as solar) then they would legislate that all new houses have to have solar panels as standard, but they dont...so here we are.

This is all rubbish, if you want proof the national grid have forecast it and can easily cope - infact there may be a drop in required energy when we move away from so much fossil fuel production as its so energy demanding….

Your DNO can upgrade your fuse, not that 20% have a 40 amp fuse either (not sure there even is a 40, its 30, 60, 80, 100 generally) and if they do they are likely on old and unsafe wiring for their house which all should have been upgraded years ago when an electrician would also have raised the main fuse with the DNO to resolve.

Hydrogen is made with electricity, while hydrogen may well become a fuel we burn in boilers it will use vastly more to produce than just powering the home with electricity - even if that is the case, the grid will cope - infact we are forecast so much excess wind generated energy that the grid is keen to use hydrogen production to ‘store’ electricity to smooth out peak demands esp when solar isn’t as productive etc.

While there are some price issues with some of these new electric based heating systems (as there is with any early adoption) lets not spread mis information about he state of the grid.

 

[Rroff]

We'd struggle in the village I live in if oil fired boilers had to go - we've got electricity coming in over wooden poles and it is showing increasing signs of strain as more people have charging points for electric cars installed and people move into some of the houses which had been empty for awhile, etc.