Where gas wins
A unit of gas costs less than a unit of electricity. If you already have an efficient, well-controlled gas system you’re happy with, the case for switching is weaker.
Compare
Electric radiators vs gas central heating
Gas is usually cheaper per unit of energy. But what you pay depends on how much of that energy becomes useful heat in the rooms you’re actually using, and that’s where modern electric radiators close the gap.
The short answer
Which is cheaper depends on your home
Where our radiators win
Every unit of electricity becomes heat in the room, with no boiler or pipework losing heat on the way. Each radiator is controlled on its own, so you only heat the rooms you use, and there’s nothing to service.
Side by side
How they compare
| radTherm electric radiators | Gas central heating | |
|---|---|---|
| Price per unit of energy | Higher per kWh | Lower per kWh |
| Heat lost on the way | None: all the electricity becomes heat in the room | Some, from the boiler and flue and through the pipework |
| Control | Every radiator has its own timer and thermostat, and an app | Usually one thermostat, with valves on each radiator |
| Servicing | None needed | Annual boiler service and gas safety check recommended |
| Installation | Fitted in a day: no boiler, no pipework, no flue | Boiler, pipework and flue; days of work if it’s a new system |
| Lifespan and guarantee | 30-year manufacturer’s guarantee | Boilers typically need replacing every 10 to 15 years |
| Mains gas needed | No | Yes |
What this table can’t tell you. Energy prices change, and your costs depend on your home’s size and insulation, your tariff and how you use your heating. Not every electric radiator performs like this either: flat panels and heaters with basic controls compare quite differently. The free survey looks at your actual rooms and gives you an estimate for your home, rather than a before-and-after figure.
Why control matters more than the unit price
It’s easy to use more energy than you need when a system wastes heat or is hard to control. With gas, heat is lost from the boiler and along the pipework, so the radiator furthest from the boiler can be doing much less than the first. Most gas boilers also draw a little electricity just to run.
Our radiators are controlled individually, to the degree and by the minute, from the radiator or from your phone. When a room reaches the temperature you’ve set, the radiator stops drawing power and carries on giving out stored heat, drawing power again only when the room drops below your setting.
Designed to heat the whole room
The deep flutes on the front and back of a radTherm radiator give it far more surface area than a typical flat gas radiator. Cool air is drawn up through it and warm air rises out into the room, so rooms feel as warm at floor level as they do at head height, without the cold spots a wet system can leave.
Switching from gas
Gas boilers need servicing every year and typically need replacing every 10 to 15 years, with the cost, disruption and waste that brings. Electric radiators have no combustion and no moving parts to wear out, so they need no maintenance, and ours carry a 30-year manufacturer’s guarantee.
They’re also ready for the future: as more of the UK’s electricity comes from renewable sources, the carbon cost of heating your home with it keeps falling.
“We were pleasantly surprised that we didn’t need as many radiators as we thought. Yet still had enough to heat all the rooms exactly as we wanted.”
Louisa Chanter, Tavistock, who switched from gas
Common questions
Switching from gas: what people ask
Is electric heating cheaper to run than gas?
Per unit, gas is cheaper. Whether your bills go up or down depends on your home, your tariff and how you heat it. Because our radiators lose no heat on the way and you only heat the rooms you use, the gap is smaller than the unit prices suggest. At the free survey we’ll give you an estimate of running costs for your home. How running costs work
How efficient are your radiators?
All of the electricity they use becomes heat in your room. That’s true of any electric heater in theory; what matters is how well the heat is spread through the room and how precisely you can control it, which is where design makes the difference. How they work
Will you take away my old heating?
Yes, we can remove and recycle old heating systems; we’ll talk it through at the free survey. Older units sometimes contain materials that need specialist handling; we’re qualified for that and we make the arrangements, so you don’t need to.
Do I need mains gas or a boiler?
No. Each radiator runs off your home’s electrics, so there’s no boiler, flue or pipework, and nothing to service. Smaller radiators plug into a socket; larger outputs are wired in. Neil checks your consumer unit and existing circuits at the survey, and anything needed is confirmed in writing in your quote before any work is agreed.
Our full range of heaters, towel rails and water heaters
Download the brochure and we’ll email it straight over.