New research from Utilita Energy has revealed that one in four households could be paying up to four times more for heating this winter by using plug-in electric heaters instead of gas central heating.
According to Utilita’s Power Price List study, 25% of households choose portable electric heaters despite their running costs being between 3–3.7 times higher than gas.
Almost 4 in 10 homes (38%) own at least one plug-in heater, even when central heating is available.
Dimitrios Stefanoglou, Sustainable Innovation Analyst at Utilita, said: “Around half (51%) of the households that use portable electric heaters said they would struggle to calculate the running costs of a heater versus using gas central heating for one room. So we have done the work for them.
” Plug-in heaters cost significantly more to operate. On average, running an electric portable heater will cost £3 per day, compared to just £0.90 per day for gas central heating for one room.”
Heating an average-sized living room (17.1m²) with an electric heater costs around £400.46 a year, compared to £136.17 with a 20-year-old boiler, or £108.65 using a modern gas boiler with smart controls.
Stefanoglou added that electric heaters also have a higher environmental impact, producing 34 kg of additional CO₂ emissions per room per year — equivalent to driving 127 extra miles.
The findings underline the importance of improving energy awareness and promoting efficient heating choices to cut costs and emissions.
Quarter of us pay four times more for heat appeared first on Energy Live News.