HEAT pumps are an alternative way of heating your home – but are they costly to run?
Dropping temperatures and rising costs mean millions of households are trying to keep warm without bursting the bank.
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And with rising bills we’ve worked out how much you’ll actually be paying to use a heat pump.
What is a heat pump?
A heat pump is a type of renewable energy technology that enables you to heat your home in an environmentally friendly way.
They deliver heat at a lower temperature than gas and oil boilers so they have to be run for much longer periods at a time.
There are also ground source heat pumps that take the heat from underground by pumping water through it in pipes.
Heat pumps take the available heat from the ground or air and increase it to a higher temperature using a compressor.
It then transfers the heat to the heating system in your home.
The pump uses electricity to run but it takes less energy than the heat it produces, making it an efficient way to warm your home.
How much does it cost to run a heat pump?
According to experts at Octopus Energy, for an average UK home, the annual running cost of a heat pump is £1,049.
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This is up to £187 cheaper than a conventional gas boiler.
These figures take into consideration the recent Energy Price Guarantee, which came into effect on October 1, and saw bills frozen at £2,500 for the next two years.
A spokesman from Octopus Energy said: “The reason why heat pumps are cheaper to run is because they are on average around 4x more efficient than gas boilers.
“Heat pumps are like magic, turning one unit of energy into three to four units of heat.
“A gas boiler takes one unit of energy and turns it into 0.9 units of heat. ”
Heat pumps also have a longer lifespan than a gas boiler, and a lower risk of failure, according to the Energy Savings Trust.
It estimated that the lifespan of a heat pump is around 20 years, compared with between ten and 15 years for a gas boiler.
This means you should pay far less for maintenance than gas boiler cover – which costs on average £288 a year, or £2880 over a decade.
If you have a heat pump, you also don’t need to pay a standing charge for gas, which is currently 28.49p per day.
This could save an average household an extra £95 a year on top of the savings above.
Here, we reveal how much it costs to run an electric blanket.
Plus, we explain at how much it costs to run a heated clothes airer.
