Future price of electricity v gas - is gas heating now the more expensive option?

  • 26 January 2023
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I was watching this video from the Heat Geeks yesterday, about the Boiler Upgrade Scheme. Besides hearing about the scheme itself it was VERY interesting to hear them say that the relative price of electricity will be lowered compared to gas, as the Green Levy will be moved from gas to electricity by 2028. That’s about 20 mins in.

 

 


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I think…

It will be a lot easier to promote heat pumps once electricity is only twice the price of gas on a standard tariff.

One challenge is what happens when the current £5k a year boiler upgrade scheme, up to 30k installs a year, and only for 3 years, finishes.

I can't image the government continuing the scheme so that will be a challenge for the sector... 

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BEIS is subsidising the training program the  Heat Geeks run, so at least there’s a bit of hope that there will be another tranche of installers. I was amazed to see that their course which normally costs £2600 is currently available for £270 Limited period only - 800 places available..

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The mention of green levy is interesting. 

The green levy was removed from electricity last October and funded via general taxation as part of the Energy Price Guarantee

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-announces-energy-price-guarantee-for-families-and-businesses-while-urgently-taking-action-to-reform-broken-energy-market

So this is already helping electricity pricing. Gas has gone up more than electricity. 

We will need to see what happens with the changes coming to the Energy Price Guarantee. 

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Ah, so that’s why gas is now relatively more than it used to be, compared to electricity. Both have gone up but electricity hasn’t gone up as much. Good news for me as I hardy use any gas at all now (thanks to my heat pump).

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Ah, so that’s why gas is now relatively more than it used to be, compared to electricity. Both have gone up but electricity hasn’t gone up as much. Good news for me as I hardy use any gas at all now (thanks to my heat pump).

The cost difference is mainly because the wholesale price of gas makes a bigger difference to the domestic unit price of gas rather than electricity. 

But shifting the green levy has also helped. 

The flip side is that the cost of failed suppliers has been loaded onto electricity bills. 

Everyone will hopefully benefit from 1st July if the price of gas doesn't jump again. Although the days of cheap gas may be over... 

 

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When I click ‘like’ I’m not really saying I Like that !!

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So this is interesting.. 

Currently the price cap for me is

Electricity 35.05p/kWh

Gas 10.30p/kWh

Electricity is 3.4 times more expensive than gas

The Octopus Tracker rate today (tracks daily wholesale prices) is

Electricity 21.49 p/kWh

Gas 5.69 p/kWh

Electricity is 3.77 times more expensive than gas

I was expecting the delta to be more than that given how much gas prices have fallen. 

 

 

 

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