Are gas appliances cheaper to run than electric?
Are gas appliances cheaper to run than electric
In answer to the question of are gas appliances cheaper to run than electric, yes, in general they are. However, before you rush out to buy a gas boiler, cooker and fire, and organise gas appliance installation London specialists, CW Services Plumbing and Heating to come and fit them, there are some points you might like to consider first.
Heating with gas rather than electricity
The most direct way of checking whether it’s cheaper to heat your home with gas or electricity, is to check their respective prices per kWh (kilowatt hour).
One kWh unit of mains gas costs approximately £0.04
One kWh unit of mains electricity costs approximately £0.15
On this basis it’s quite clear to see that electricity is in the region of 3 to 4 times more expensive that gas. Prices may change slightly according to the tariff you are on and who your supplier is.
However, there are one or two little curved balls to take into consideration when you ask, are gas appliances cheaper to run than electric?
Curved ball No1 – Boiler efficiency
Curved ball number one relates to the fact that whereas an electric radiator will transform 1kWh of electricity into 1 unit of heat, a gas boiler cannot. They are not as efficient. In actual fact, even a brand spanking new gas boiler will only work up to 90% efficient in fuel/heat conversion terms.
But in overall terms, because of the big difference in the price of the type of fuel, gas still wins out in terms of running costs.
Curved ball No2 – Non availability of mains gas
Curved ball number two relates to the fact that you may not live in a mains gas area. If you don’t, your only real option is to use LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) and LPG at is considerably more expensive than either mains gas or electricity.
Cookers – are gas appliances cheaper to run than electric?
Apart from heating, the only other question relating to are gas appliances cheaper to run than electric, is with regard to cooking. Just comparing mains gas and electricity, gas cookers cost around £10 per year to operate whereas electric cookers cost around £45 per year to run.
Call the gas appliance installation London experts – CW Services Plumbing and Heating
Clearly, it is much less expensive to cook with mains gas or LPG rather than electric. If you want to consider swapping from electric to gas and you are looking for gas appliance installation London experts, we here at CW Services Plumbing and Heating would be pleased to help. All our fitters are Gas Safe registered. For a free survey and no-obligation quotation call 020 7733 6812 or 07949 095 184.
