Is Infrared Heating Expensive to Run?

It's the question we get asked more than any other. And its a fair one, because at first glance, the numbers can look alarming. Electricity costs around 24p per kilowatt hour in the UK. Gas costs around 6p. So surely electric heating must be four times more expensive to run?

Not quite. And once you understand how infrared heating actually works, the comparison becomes a lot more nuanced and a lot more favourable.

Why the Unit Rate Comparison Isn't the Whole Story

The mistake most people make when comparing heating systems is looking only at the unit rate, the cost per kilowatt hour of energy. On that measure alone, electricity loses to gas every time.

But the unit rate only tells you the cost of the energy going into the system. It tells you nothing about how the efficiently that energy is converted into warmth, how much of it is wasted, or how long the system needs to run to make a room comfortable.

Gas boilers, for example, lose energy through flue gases, pipework heat loss and the standing energy required to keep the boiler hot between cycles. Even a moderns A-rated boiler operates at around 88 to 92 per cent efficiency in real word conditions. Older boilers can be significantly lower.

Infrared panels convert close to 100 per cent of the electricity they consume into usable radiant heat at the point of use, with no losses between the source and the room.

How Infrared Heating Actually Works

Infrared panels heat differently to every other heating system you might have used. Rather than warming the air in a room, which then rises, escapes through gaps and ventilation and leaves cold spots at floor level, infrared panels emit radiant heat that is absorbed directly by the people, surfaces and objects in the room.

The walls, floor and furniture absorb this warmth and slowly release it back, creating an even, comfortable heat throughout the space. The room feels warm at a lower air temperature than a convective system would require and that lower thermostat setting is where the real energy saving begins.

Studies consistently show that a room heated by infrared feels comfortable at a temperature two or three degrees lower than the same room heated by a convective system. Over a full heating season, that difference in thermostat setting represents a meaningful reduction in energy consumption.

What Does Infrared Heating Actually Cost to Run?

The honest answer is: it depends on your property, your usage patterns and whether you have solar panels. But here are some real numbers to work with.

A 700w infrared panel, a typical size for a medium-sized living room or bedroom costs approximately 17p per hour to run at current electricity prices of around 24.5p per kilowatt hour. Running for four hours per day during the heating season, that's around 68p per day, or approximately £5 per week for that on room.

For a full home heated by infrared, a typical three bedroom property might have a total installed capacity of 3,000 to 4,500 watts across all rooms. With thermostatic cycling, panels switching on and off to maintain temperature rather than running continuously, the actual average consumption is typically 30 to 50 percent of installed capacity. That brings the real world running cost down considerably from the headline figure.

A real world case study from an Infrared Group installation in a four bedroom property showed an annual heating cost saving of £1,378 compared to the previous gas heating system, despite electricity costing approximately four times more per unit than gas. The saving came from the combination of efficiency at point of use, lower thermostat settings and genuine room by room control.

Infrared vs Gas - The Real Comparison

Let's put some numbers on it directly.

A gas boiler heating a home has the apparent advantage of a lower unit rate. But factor in the boiler efficiency losses, the annual service cost (typically £80 to £120 per year), the replacement cycle (a boiler lasts 10 to 15 years before replacement becomes necessary), and the cost of any repairs in the meantime, and the total cost of ownership looks very different.

Infrared panels have no boiler service, no annual maintenance cost, no replacement cycle within 30 years, and no repair bills for moving parts or water systems. Over a 15 year period, the avoided maintenance and replacement costs alone represent a saving of several thousand pounds before you count the running costs differences.

Infrared vs Storage Heaters

If you currently have storage heaters, the comparison is even more favourable for infrared.

Storage heaters charge up overnight on a cheaper overnight tariff, then release heat slowly throughout the day, regardless of whether you need it. By evening, when you're actually home and want warmth, they've often run out. You have very little control over when the heat is available, and the overnight tariff advantage has been significantly eroded as smart tariff structures have evolved.

Infrared heats instantly, on demand, room by room. You heat only the spaces you're in, only when you're in them. No pre-charging, no heat stored in a room you're not using, no waiting for a system to warm up. The result is typically a 30 to 50 per cent reduction in heating energy consumption compared to storage heaters in the same property.

Infrared vs Heat Pumps

This is more nuanced comparison. Heat pumps have a theoretical efficiency advantage, they produce two to four units of heat for every unit of electricity they consume, giving them a Coefficient of Performance of two to four.

Infrared converts one unit of electricity to one unit of heat, a COP of one. On paper, heat pumps should therefore be cheaper to run.

In practise, the picture is more complicated. Heat pumps are designed for continuous, low temperature operation. They work best when maintaining a steady background temperature across a whole building, and their efficiency drops significantly in cold weather. In a well insulated, continuously occupied property, a heat pump will typically deliver a running cost advantage.

But in properties with a variable occupancy, high ceilings, older or less insulated building fabric, or where different rooms are used at different times, the zone level control that infrared provides delivers real world savings that close the gap significantly. And the capital cost of infrared, typically 60 to 85 per cent lower than a heat pump installation, means the payback period calculation looks very different.

The Solar PV Effect - Where everything changes

If you have solar panels , or are considering them, the running cost equation for infrared heating changes dramatically.

Solar PV generates electricity at an effective cost of three to five pence per kilowatt hour over the lifetime of a system, compared to the 24.5p grid rate. Infrared panels draw a small, thermostatic, intermittent load that is far better matched to on-site solar generation than a heat pump's large, continuous draw.

Running infrared panels on self-generated solar electricity during daylight hours reduces your effective heating cost to near zero for a significant portion of the heating season. For a home with both solar panels and infrared heating, the combination is one of the most energy efficient and cost effective domestic heating setups available.

Infrared Group also supplies and installs solar PV through our sister company Solarised Ltd, meaning we can design the complete system, panels, battery storage and infrared heating as an integrated package optimised for maximum self consumption.

How to Keep Your Infrared Running Costs as Low as Possible

Whether not you have solar panels, there are several straightforward things you can do to minimise your infrared running costs.

Use the smart controls: Every Infrared Group system comes with programmable smart thermostats that allow you to set heating schedules room by room. Set your living room to heat an hour before you get home, your bedroom to warm up just before bed and everything else to frost protection mode when unoccupied. Only heating what you need, when you need it, is the single biggest factor in keeping running costs down.

Set the right thermostat temperature: Because infrared delivers radiant warmth directly to you rather than warming the air, you'll typically feel comfortable at a thermostat setting two to three degrees lower than you're used to. Start lower and adjust upward rather than heating to the same temperature you used with gas or storage heaters.

Improve your insulation: Infrared heats the fabric of the room, walls, floor, ceiling, and that thermal mass retains warmth and radiates it back. The better your insulation, the longer that warmth is retained and the less your panels need to run to maintain a comfortable temperature.

Consider solar PV: If you're planning to install infrared heating, it's worth running the numbers on solar at the same time. The two technologies complement each other extremely well, and the combined investment in solar plus infrared typically delivers a faster payback than either technology alone.

The Verdict - Is Infrared Expensive to Run?

The honest answer is: compared to gas at current prices, infrared will cost slightly more to run in a straightforward like for like comparison, but that gap is much smaller than the unit rate comparison suggests, and it is offset significantly by zero maintenance costs, zero boiler replacement costs and the ability to use solar generated electricity.

Compared to storage heaters, infrared is typically cheaper to run. Compared to conventional electric panel heaters, infrared is more efficient and more controllable. Compared to oil or LPG, infrared is increasingly competitive particularly when paired with solar.

And as the UK electricity grid continues to decarbonise and electricity prices converge further with gas, the running cost case for infrared strengths every year.

For a home with solar panels, the running costs comparison with has becomes very close indeed, and when you factor in maintenance, longevity and the absence of a boiler replacement bill, infrared frequently comes out ahead on total cost of ownership.

Find Out More

Infrared Group Ltd is a specialist infrared heating manufacturer, supplier and installer based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire. We offer free site surveys and no obligation quotations for any project, domestic or commercial.

Call us on 0333 090 7160, email info@infraredgroup.co.uk, or visit infraredgroup.co.uk to find out more.