Heating and damp
Heating running costs per hour, UK 2026
Heating is where the marketing is worst. Every plug in electric heater converts electricity to heat at the same rate, so a 2kW panel heater and a 2kW fan heater cost the same per hour no matter what the box claims. What genuinely differs is anything that moves heat rather than making it, which is the whole argument for a heat pump, and anything that heats a person rather than a room. Those distinctions are worth money. The rest is decoration.
Read
- Cost per kWh of heat: gas, electric, wood and heat pumpThe fuel price is not the cost of heat. Divide by how much of it a boiler, a heater, a stove and a heat pump actually turn into warmth in the room.
- What a kWh really costs, once the standing charge is inThe capped unit rate is not what you pay per kWh. Add the standing charge and a low user pays half again what a high user does.
- Dehumidifier running cost, per hour and per winterWhat a dehumidifier costs to run per hour in the UK, compressor against desiccant, and what it adds up to across a British winter.
- Portable power stations: the cost per stored kWhWhat a portable power station costs per kilowatt hour delivered once the battery is divided across its cycle life, against the grid and a petrol generator.
Everything we have priced in this room
| Item | Running | Cost per use | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric blanket | 2.61p | 4.53p | |
| Dehumidifier, compressor | 5.22p | 8.21p | |
| Dehumidifier, desiccant | 13.1p | 16.2p | |
| Oil filled radiator | 31.3p | 33.2p | |
| Fan heater | 52.2p | 54.3p | |
| Gas central heating | 88p | £1.23 | |
| Air source heat pump | £1.04 | £1.83 |
Open the calculator to put your own tariff, your own purchase price and your own usage against any row above.
Worked through
The cheapest and the dearest of the things here that are measured in the same unit, with every term of the sum shown, so you can see which part of the number is the part that actually matters.
Electric blanket, 4.53p per hour
Air source heat pump, £1.83 per hour
The comparison people expect to be simple and is not. Electricity costs roughly three and a half times what gas costs per kilowatt hour, and a heat pump delivers roughly three times the heat per kilowatt hour bought. Those two numbers very nearly cancel.
Related
The same sum, applied in home office, motoring and garden and diy. Or open the calculator and put your own numbers through it.
Prices used on this page
- Electricity, 26.11p per kWh. Ofgem price cap, direct debit, average of England, Scotland and Wales, including 5% VAT.. Ofgem energy price cap unit rates and standing charges. Checked 22 August 2026.
- Mains gas, 7.33p per kWh. Ofgem price cap, direct debit, average of England, Scotland and Wales, including 5% VAT.. Ofgem energy price cap unit rates and standing charges. Checked 22 August 2026.