How can I reduce my heat pump running costs?
Heat pump running costs are already lower than for a gas or oil boiler. If you’re a Good Energy customer, you can save even more by switching to our fixed heat pump tariff.
Our smart energy tariff can reduce your heat pump running costs through providing two periods per day of off-peak electricity, from 5am-9am and 1pm-4pm. In this guide, we’ll explain how the tariff is set up to help you run your heat pump for less, as well as how to enhance your savings with some simple adjustments.
A heat pump tariff designed around real users
The Good Energy heat pump tariff was developed using insights from heat pumps we’ve installed for our customers. We spotted a pattern for how homes with heat pumps typically used electricity throughout the day, and designed a tariff to provide some extra support at busier times.
Rather than lots of different prices to keep track of, there’s just one standard rate and one off-peak rate, timed for when you need it.
This means that even if you make no changes to your heating schedule, most heat pump owners will still save money by joining our heat pump tariff.
If you are comfortable making some changes to your home heating, here are some ways that you could save even more on Good Energy’s heat pump tariff:
1. Adjust your hot water to enhance your savings
If you’re comfortable with making some changes to the timing of your hot water, you could increase your heat pump tariff savings. These changes could include:
Time water heating for off-peak periods: set your hot water system to come on during your low-cost sessions. For example, you could do the bulk of your water heating from 5am-9am, then top it up during your afternoon session from 1pm.
Boost temperature during off-peak periods: the heat pumps we install allow you to simply adjust your required water temperature. If you expect to use more hot water, you could set a slightly higher temperature during off-peak times, allowing you to store it efficiently in your tank for later.
Efficient Legionella prevention: your heat pump system will also include a weekly Legionella cycle, where your hot water cylinder is heated to 60°C for an hour to keep your tank free from bacteria. To do this in a cost-effective way, set the cycle to run during off-peak hours. It’s best to do this at a time when you’re not going to use much hot water.
Guides for adjusting hot water settings
Below you can find instructions for the heat pump models installed by Good Energy.
2. Should you adjust your heating schedule?
Good Energy designs and installs your heat pump system to work as efficiently as possible for your home. Where possible, our heat pump tariff has been designed to provide support at times when the heat pumps we install tend to use more electricity. However, yours may be set up slightly differently, depending on your needs.
Generally, it’s more efficient to run your heat pump at a constant temperature all day, followed by a slightly lower temperature overnight.
However, you may be able to reduce your running costs slightly by increasing the temperature by a degree or two during your low-cost sessions, and then dropping the temperature down slightly afterwards. These changes can reduce the overall efficiency of your heat pump, but can lead to financial savings, as long as they are small subtle changes of only a degree or two.
It’s your decision whether you would like to prioritise the efficiency of your system or make changes to add to the savings from adjusting your hot water.
You should be able to make these changes by adjusting your heating schedule on your thermostat, to be a degree or so higher during your off-peak periods, and very slightly lower during peak periods.
How to choose the right electricity tariff
The Good Energy heat pump tariff has been designed specifically for homes with heat pumps, so it may not be the best option for you if you have other energy technology installed at home.
For example, if you have solar panels and a battery, you’re unlikely to get much benefit from the off-peak period starting at 1pm, as this is when you’re most likely to be using the power from your solar panels.
Or if you have an electric car charger, it will be simpler to choose an EV tariff with just one long off-peak period overnight, rather than two shorter off-peak periods during the day.
This is designed to help you charge up for less at a time when there is less demand on the electricity grid.
If you don’t have a heat pump, solar panels, battery or EV charger, you may still benefit from one of our smart tariffs if you’re able to shift other electricity that you use into the off-peak sessions. Naturally, you may not notice as significant savings as homes with these technologies.
Make your home a powerhouse
Interested in generating and using more renewable electricity at home? Find out about our installation services for heat pumps, solar panels, battery storage and EV chargers. Our experts will design a bespoke system that smoothly integrates with your existing technologies to heat and power your home.
