Best heating options if you don't have gas

For many off-gas homes, the expensive part of heating is not just the total energy used but when that energy is used. Morning and evening are often the periods when heating demand is highest, and they are also the times when electricity is typically most expensive to buy at standard rates.

That means off-gas homes need to think not only about what produces heat, but also about when electricity is bought and how that cost lines up with the household's heating pattern.

Battery storage can help an off-gas home reduce the cost of electric heating by shifting some electricity purchases into cheaper overnight periods. Instead of buying all power at the exact moment heating is needed, the battery can be charged at night and discharged later when the home is using more expensive electricity.

This does not make every electric-heated home cheap to run, but it can materially improve the economics where there is a meaningful day-night tariff gap and the household has enough demand at the right times.

If gas is not available, an air source heat pump can often make strong sense compared with direct electric heating such as wall heaters or an electric boiler. That is because a heat pump can typically generate around 3 to 4 units of useful heat from 1 unit of electricity in good conditions, whereas direct electric heating turns 1 unit of electricity into roughly 1 unit of heat.

That efficiency advantage can reduce running costs materially compared with direct electric options, especially in homes where heating demand is meaningful and the heat pump can operate reasonably well. The economics can improve again if the home also has a battery and access to cheaper overnight electricity.

Off-gas homes do still have other choices. Oil boilers and biomass boilers remain relevant in some properties, especially where the home already has wet central heating and where a full electrification route is not yet attractive.

Those systems come with their own trade-offs around fuel delivery, storage, emissions, maintenance, and long-term direction. That is why the useful question is not 'which technology is best in theory?' but 'which one is best for this property, this tariff, and this household's usage pattern?'

For off-gas homes, it is especially important to compare technologies on a like-for-like basis. Direct electric heating, batteries, heat pumps, oil, and biomass all have different upfront costs and different running-cost patterns over time.

That is where a comparison tool is useful. Instead of relying on a broad rule of thumb, you can test your own electricity use, heating pattern, and future setup to see which options look most realistic for your home.