Electric Heating Systems

According to energy industry analyst uSwitch, the cost of household heating bills has risen 114% since 2004 and are now standing at an average of £1,243 a year.In 2004 they were just £540 a year!

That price rise has been due to the rise in energy costs and taxation since 2004 followed by the spike in 2008 which we have written about before (see "Oil Prices and sleeping tigers"). Although prices then equally plummeted (momentarily) the price has since been maintained artificially high by OPEC to encourage supply-side restructuring in the oil industry. The oil price is now back to its highest price - spike excepted - for any time in the last 5 years. See the oil price widget to the side of this blog and you can see the trend. In 2009 alone energy prices for the average house in the UK climbed £381 (42%) to £1,243.

However, the ongoing structural investment in alternative energies and renewables is also expected to add a further £548 a year onto consumer energy bills according to Auditors Ernst & Young and once the recession is over, global demand will pick up again which will cause further inflationary pressure on energy prices. We should not discount the possibility of further oil price volatility either.

As heating accounts for up to 33% of average household energy consumption, Infrared heating offers a compelling means of minimising the effect of these price rises. Being on average 50% more energy efficient and up to 70% more efficient than oil or gas, it really is time to start considering a switch. For a fuller account of this, see "How do I cut my heating bills?"