How much is your Air Source Heat Pump electricity bill?

[Pea79]

I've recently moved into a new house and it is heated by Air Source Heat Pump. No gas whatsoever at the property. We've been quoted around £350 a month from the existing electricity supplier and I've been absolutely shocked at that, as it's about 3x more expensive than at my previous house (Gas Central Heating and elec combined price).

For context, the new house is 4-bed detached. The old house was 4-bed semi. New house slightly larger, but both have under-floor heating on the ground floor and radiators on upper floors.

How much do you pay? Is £350 pcm about right?

I'm interested to know this too so giving this a bump.

Have you taken into account the rising energy prices? I'm on a variable tariff paying £168 for gas and electricity (normal combo boiler etc) and my energy company offered to fix my bills at almost £500 a month. No change in usage, but the costs shot up.
So could that be contributing to your increase?

Just to give you a comparison. We’re in a large 5bed detached house (old period property) with gas/elec - no air source heat pump. Very large area of wet underfloor heating in the kitchen/breakfast room (which is constantly on). We’re on a variable rate. Last month’s bill was £350. We’re not entering into any fixed deals for the moment.

Thanks for all of your replies.

@zaffa I've taken into account the price rises, but 3x the amount I was paying at my last house seems excessive, especially considering that the new house is only slightly larger and ASHP is supposed to be much more economical than GCH.

@Henlie Thank you for providing a comparison.

I suppose I'm just trying to establish if our ASHP is working as efficiently as it should be. Does anyone have ASHP that could provide me with a more direct comparison regarding their elec bill? We're going to install a smart meter and try to work out if there's something in particular at the house that is using a lot of electricity, other than the heating.

Electricity is 3x more expensive than gas. All electric heating is not desirable for this reason but where there is no gas options are limited.

@Blabla2
Thank you. I understand that the cost-per-unit for electricity is more expensive than gas, but I've read that ASHP should use less units than GCH which would mean that the overall cost should be cheaper... though possibly only during off-peak periods.

www.edfenergy.com/heating/advice/electric-vs-gas-heating-whats-best

I have a small 2 bed house and have air source and no gas. I have a pre payment meter (I know not for everyone but works for my situation) In winter I put in about £110/120 to be comfortable and summer isn’t much at all - maybe about £40. So I guess if you’re in a 4 bed with underfloor heating then £350 may be about right? You should find it’s a lot less in summer though so will probably build up credit that way.

We have a small two bed end of terrace, poorly insulated so not the best for air source heat pump, we have solar panels that heat the water only. Our direct debit is £115 a month all year round and we price fixed for a year last June. Dread to think what it'll be after our fix ends.

Mine is slightly lower than that in a similar house but not by much. I’ve used 700 kWh already this January.

If it helps, I have not moved house or changed the heating system but I used to pay £93 a month until my previous company went bust in September. I am currently paying around £150 a month in my new company’s variable rate BUT have been offered to fix it at £250.

So I would say it is the energy price rise what is the issue. I have chosen not to fix it as 1) can’t afford it 2)I hope my energy costs will go far down once we are out of the winter but then… the limits the government place on energy prices are due to change in the next few weeks so… I am wondering if I should remortgage or downsize.

Thanks, all!

So it sounds like £350 isn't excessive for us. Good to know! Will still implement a smart meter though, as it would be usefu to see if we can make some easy savings.

Okay… just went into EDF to see if the amount they wanted me to fix for had been reducing now that I am using the central heating less…. The option to fix has disappeared!

Oh my, that would be interesting, apparently the government is releasing the new máximums on 7 February.

Electricity units cost far more per unit than gas, so you'd have to be using a lot less for the price to be comparable.

We're on a price cap tariff and our gas unit price is currently 3.94 p per kWh but our electricity is 19.89, ie five times more.

What type of tariff is this for? If it's a fixed, it could be even more expensive. If I wanted to fix now, the price is 36 p a unit for electricity although they also offer a 'loyalty' rate of 27 p.

It's also worth checking what usage they're basing the payment on, is it realistic to what you'll use? It could be that the £350 is a wild overestimate, or even an underestimate

We’re the same, no idea how much our bill will but having been away for a few days visiting family we discovered that the fan pump uses more power when the house is unoccupied. Apparently it relies on water being drawn through, showers/washing up etc to stop the fan blades from freezing. So when it’s idled it has to run to prevent ice buildup on the blades.

Do check out moneysavingexpert.com advice on energy tariffs, some interesting thoughts around fixing versus staying on the price cap.

I'm not in the UK but I just had air source heat pump heating fitted before Christmas. My heating before that was the wood burner. I also have a smart meter, so the days when I run the ashp all day I'm using about 3 euros of electricity more. This is a bit of a big leap for me, so at the moment I'm still using the wood (because the logs are bought and paid for) but this week while it's cold I'm using the ASHP when we arrive home from work and the fires take a little while to get going, and overnight when it drops below freezing. It's a suitable compromise for the time being

I pay 19p per unit electric and 23 p daily charge

how much are the utility company actually charging per unit

(not lining their pockets with your money from direct debit and using it as a free bank?)

I live in the same house and the same company would not have me paying £240 fixed rate whereas my actual real usage is costing less than half of that figure

go on the unit cost not the direct debit

Hello. Popping in to let you know that we're doing a Q&A with fuel poverty charity National Energy Action about these energy price hikes on Wednesday 23rd Feb at 12 noon. The thread is now open for questions here.