Renewable heating specialist Dwellow has launched an interactive heat pump running cost calculator designed to address a common question for installers and consumers: how much will a heat pump cost to run?
Unlike calculators that produce estimated savings based on fixed assumptions, the tool allows users to change the variables behind the calculation and see the effect on predicted running costs.
Users can adjust annual heating demand, heat pump efficiency, electricity tariff, existing heating system and energy prices, as well as modelling the potential impact of solar PV and battery storage.
The tool then recalculates the figures in real time, allowing different scenarios to be compared rather than presenting a single estimate.
Moving beyond headline heat pump savings
Dwellow says estimates of heat pump running costs can vary significantly depending on the assumptions used.
A change in seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP), for example, can alter projected electricity consumption. Similarly, a different electricity tariff can change the running costs without any change to the heat pump itself.
The Dwellow calculator allows these assumptions to be adjusted individually, enabling users to explore how different system designs and energy prices could affect running costs.
A tool for installers as well as homeowners
The calculator can also be used by installers when discussing running costs with prospective customers.
Rather than relying on generic comparisons between boilers and heat pumps, installers can use different inputs to demonstrate how system efficiency, heat loss and tariff choice affect running costs.
It can also illustrate why predictions made before installation should not be treated as guarantees of future energy bills.
Solar and battery storage included
The calculator enables users to explore how solar PV and battery storage could influence heat pump running costs.
Dwellow says incorporating these technologies reflects the fact that household heating is increasingly part of a wider home energy system rather than being considered in isolation.
Users can test different scenarios and see the estimated effect immediately.
Ian McLaren, co-founder of Dwellow, says:
“One of the hardest questions for anyone in our industry to answer is also one of the first questions customers ask: ‘How much will a heat pump cost me to run?’
“The problem is that there isn’t one meaningful answer. Two households with apparently similar properties can have very different running costs depending on heat demand, system efficiency, electricity tariff and how the heat pump has been designed and operated.
“We wanted to build something that doesn’t hide those variables from the user. Instead, we’ve put them front and centre.”
