Gas Price Increases Help Make Underfloor Heating Running Costs Even More Attractive

British Gas' electricity cost rises have however been more muted, with a 16% increase last August being followed by a significant 5% fall in electricity prices during January 2012. With gas prices continuing to increase significantly faster than electricity costs the running costs of electric underfloor heating continue to drop in comparison to gas powered heating systems, ensuring that electric underfloor heating is becoming even more attractive!

In addition to the value for money of a unit of electricity, another aspect to consider when measuring the running costs of your heating system is the overall efficiency. A Heat Mat system is more than 99% efficient at converting electricity into heat, where as even condensing boilers often only reach around 90% efficiency, and 'standard' boilers may be as low as 70% efficient. When the efficiency of a system is taken into account, along with the installation costs (usually lower with electric underfloor heating) and the maintenance and repair costs (usually nothing with an electric underfloor heating system) gas systems can start to look far more expensive.

And, finally, electric underfloor heating has one more ace up its sleeve. If you purchase a Heat Mat system you get a Lifetime Warranty on most products, as the underfloor heating should last as long as the floor covering above it. In fact there are many systems that were laid in the 70's that are still operational, and our cable technology has improved significantly since then. Contrast that with the expected lifetime of a condensing boiler, perhaps 5 to 7 years according to some market commentators, and when the cost of replacing the boiler is taken into account Heat Mat's underfloor heating systems can show great cost savings compared to gas central heating over the lifetime of a system.