How much does it cost to run an Electric Panel Heater in comparison to a Gas Radiator?
The cost of running either Electric or Gas heating is broken down into installation and running costs.
The cost of installing an Electric Panel Heater is very low, with a single heater ranging from £20 - 100. In a five-bedroom house with a heater for each room, the installation costs can be anywhere from £100 - £1,000. All you need to do is plug it in to a socket and switch it on.
On the other hand, the cost of installing a Gas radiator is much more expensive. To install a Gas central heating system for a five-bedroom home, including a boiler, radiators, controls and pipes can range from £3,000 - £4,500. In a Gas central heating system, the heated water travels underneath the floors through pipes, and 50% of the heat can be lost before it reaches the radiator. This means you would have to heat up your home for longer and increase the temperature to compensate for the heat loss.
Energy consumption is measured in kWh, which can be calculated by multiplying the wattage (W) of the radiator by how long you want to use it for in hours. The energy consumed per kilowatt hour for an Electric Panel Heater costs 15p. Whereas, the energy consumed per kilowatt hour for a Gas radiator costs 4p. Although gas looks cheaper, it is more costly in the long-term than Electric.
Electric Panel Heaters generally are sold in wattages of kW. They range from being small (0.5 kW) to very large (2.5 kW). The most popular sizes for Panel Heaters are:
- 0.5 kW
- 1.0 kW
- 1.5 kW
- 2.0 kW
- 2.5 kW
Let's calculate the cost of running an Electric Panel Heater versus a Gas Radiator. For example, let's say the Wattage of the Panel Heater is 1.0 kW, and you want to use it for 8 hours per day.
Multiply 1.0 kW by 8 hours, which gives you 8 kWh, as the electricity used each day. At the cost of 15p per kWh, running one Electric Panel Heater per day costs £1.20. Multiply that by 5 for a five-bedroom home, the cost to heat your home per day using an Electric Panel Heater is £6.00.
Let's compare this to a 1.0 kW Gas radiator's running costs. The energy usage will come from the boiler, which has an average wattage of 24 kW. You want to run the gas radiator for 8 hours, which means the Gas energy used per day is 192 kWh. At the cost of 4p per kWh, the cost to heat your home per day with a Gas Radiator is £7.68.
In total, the cost of running an Electric Panel Heater is approximately £1006.00.
The total cost of running a Gas Radiator is £3,007.68.
Therefore, to heat your home using Electric Panel Heaters is cheaper than using Gas radiator with a central heating system.