Home Energy Consumption: How Much Does It Cost to Operate an Electric Boiler?

Whether you’re using it just to heat water for bathing and washing up, or you’re heating your entire home with it, your boiler is a critical component. If you’re thinking about installing a new one in your home, you may be on the fence about whether you should go with gas, oil, or an electric boiler. Electric models offer quite a few benefits, but it can be difficult to determine how much you’ll spend in operating costs over the course of the year. We’ll help explain what you should know below.

First, you’ll need to consider the type of boiler. There are several options out there. Direct boilers are the simplest, cheapest, and smallest, but they lack any type of storage, so you cannot heat a large volume of water at one time. Storage boilers come in vented or unvented cylinder types and allow you to heat many litres of water at once, but require more space for installation and usually cost a bit more.

There are also dry core storage, solar compatible boilers, and electric combined primary storage units. With all that being said, unvented cylinders are the most frequently recommended for UK homes.

It is also important to understand that different boiler designs, models, and even brands will affect the price that you pay to operate the unit over the course of a year. The simplest way to compare these is to look at the energy rating for each unit. In general, an energy rating of C means that you will pay less in electricity costs over time than an energy rating of D. Some units also have different energy ratings for different functions. For instance, an unvented cylinder might have a C rating for hot water, but a D rating for heating.

No matter how efficient your water heater is, the rate at which you consume hot water will also affect your costs over time. Two homes with an identical unvented cylinder but dramatically different usage rates will incur drastically different electric charges over time. Simply put, the more hot water you use, the more frequently the cylinder will need to heat cold water from the mains, which means more energy consumption.

Another factor that will play a role in how much you pay to operate an electric boiler is the cost of electricity in your area. The cost of electricity per unit varies throughout the UK based on several different factors, including the local distributor charges, the amount of energy purchased from generators in the area, and the volume of energy sold by the supplier.

Ultimately, it can be difficult to determine your average operating costs for an electric boiler on your own. Our expert plumbers can help. Call EasyFlow today on 0161 941 5571 to schedule an assessment of your home, your usage needs, and more. We can also help you understand what you might be looking at in terms of annual operating costs.

 EasyFlow can send an engineer to you if you’re located in Greater Manchester, Warrington, Liverpool, Chester