Electric Heating Options?

All electric may be the cheaper option for the landlord, but not the tenants. You will multiply one standing charge (two if both electric and gas) by five. Standing charges are now horrendous. Electric is also still more expensive than gas.

Why not install one efficient gas/other heating system to supply all five flats and just split the bill between the flats.

Electric sub meters and sell tenants electric cards Google Stephen p Wales. Agree with other poster electric only is expensive. Communal gas boiler and service charge payable as Rent (capital R important in the tenancy)

Electric heating for smaller properties is the way to go.. All of our conversions go this route. Quality electric showers (no bath), point of use hot water for sinks, or possibly a tank (immersion) if there is room. One important point to remember is that you will drop bandings on your EPC if you use 'on peak' supply and panel heaters as opposed opposed to off peak and storage heaters... Yes storage rads are indeed making a comeback.. Modern ones are are fully programmeable and EPC surveyors love them. If you go for panel rads for your main heating source you will loose 2 EPC bandings ie, a C drops to an E banding, as you would not be using efficiently priced electricity.... Remember banding is all important for future proofing and compliance.. John

Hi Navin. This might help. Firstly, make sure your gas boiler is big enough to supply all 5 flats.
At the boiler end, fit water flow meters for each flat. Also, Install 5 separate Salus valves at the boiler end which talk to a designated individual Salus thermostat in each flat. You can get them with or without timing programs.
This way allows each flat to have its own individual gas heating water supply whilst each tenant has complete control and their own consumption. The flow meter allows you to monitor how much water goes to each flat and therefore the percentage share of the gas bill. With tenants knowing this, it ensures they have some individual responsibility to only use the system when needed.
The added bonus is only one boiler service and one standing charge.
I have this system and it works very well.
Steve

Reply to the comment left by JohnCaversham at 26/10/2022 - 10:24
...that if the new EPC requirements taken on board the floored rating system they use.

The band rating analysis needs to determine if it is actual cost saving for user or carbon/enviro cost saving is the priority. Thats the issue.

Until LL's know THIS direction of travel, everyone is sitting tight when it comes to upgrading as its a stab in the dark at the mo.

We are planning converting offices to residential (6-8 flats), with a single air source heat pump providing hot water and radiator heating. Each flat will have heat meters for us to charge tenants for what they use. ASHP is very efficient compared to resistive electric heating. Still in early stages of planning, so can't comment on how well it might work, but good to eliminate gas from 6-8 flats with annual certificates etc.

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 26/10/2022 - 12:14
Hi DSR,

I take your point about floored system however we had direct experience of an A rated heavily insulated renovation dropping to a C due to panel heaters using peak rate expensive tariffs. It would seem that within the EPC calculation there is a formula specifically for tarrifs the EPC office advised. Certainly a point to consider if going all elect.

As both a landlord and a Solar / Battery / Car charger Installer (Comercial and domestic) I spend a lot of time looking at energy. Some interesting comments above.

At current pricing storage heaters make a bit of sense typical domestic market rates for energy at moment for electric are 7.5p/kWh night rate - 48p/kWh day (the 34p domestic cap is an average rate so you will end up paying 34p average across all power consumed so day use will be 48p). Thus with gas rates at 10p on the current cap rate there is a small cost saving .

However theres uncertainty around what future rates are going to be I can see gas settling back to the 5-8p/kWh range later next year once LNG supplies start increasing in volume and the market starts to adjust post Ukraine. I don't see overnight electric changing in price, if you can get a 7.5p contract, so a storage heater would make some sense however they aren't as flexible in terms of delivering heat quickly and I think its inevitable you will end up adding heat using a day rate tarsus by some other form of heater so I would say any savings other than the cost of equipment install are highly questionable.

Prior to the price increases a Heat Pump would have made a lot of sense for well insulated / air tight properties but at the moment its much less clear. Beware anyone who says heat pumps are the answer they only work well for certain properties (well insulated and low air leakage).

Some very interesting points when I first set up HMO/flats I used electric "coin" meters which the tenants used as a ATM then when to cards "p wales" helped a lot, But you need the meters in a public place not in the flats and you need to change the code on the cards as standard cards are sold on eBay for a low price and used in a landlord meter, have a look, The landlord then pays the real price of the power to the elec company via his meter, very expensive even a few years ago.
I since sold up / changed the flats and if anyone is interested in card meters I have about 12 I pulled out all working with a new code in if anyone is interested jcollinshb at gmail.com