Heat Pump and Solar Panels for Our Home: What We Learned After Replacing Our Gas Boiler

The Currans have finished their first full winter using their new home energy system - made up of a heat pump, solar panels, and a home battery. They’ve crunched the numbers and looked at what this shift has meant for both their comfort and their wallet. Here's a summary of what they found:

Why We Chose a Heat Pump and Solar Panels for Our Home

One of the biggest reasons we moved away from gas was efficiency. Our old gas boiler did the job, but not very well. For every unit of energy it used, it gave us less than one unit of heat. Our new heat pump gives us more than 4 times the heat for the same amount of energy.

Translation? It’s like upgrading from a car that gets 10 miles per gallon to one that gets 47.

And if you're wondering - no, we didn’t do a full house overhaul. Our home has solid brick walls and an average energy rating (EPC D). We didn’t need new radiators or pipes.

The heat pump is siting on a solid plinth especially built into the decking

But Isn’t Electricity Expensive?

Yes, electricity costs more per unit than gas - about 4 times more, in fact. But the heat pump is so efficient that it still comes out ahead. Even during cold snaps, it was rarely more expensive to run than a gas boiler. Most days, it was cheaper - often significantly so.

Bottom line: Even on the standard electricity tariff, we’d save money. But we took it a step further.

How Solar Panels and a Home Battery Supercharged Our Savings

We installed solar panels and a 27kWh battery, and this made a huge difference. The battery holds more energy than we typically need in a day, and we charge it overnight using a special off-peak tariff that costs a third of the usual rate.

We also sell excess solar power back to the grid—yes, we get paid! And because we charge our battery at night and use solar during the day, we rarely need to buy expensive electricity during peak hours.

Fun fact: Our electricity cost, after factoring in what we sold back to the grid, came out to just 6.2p per unit—cheaper than gas!

Real-World Costs and Savings

Let’s talk numbers. Here’s how it broke down over the 7-month heating season:

• With our new system: £649 total electricity cost

• If we’d stayed with gas: ~£2,361

• Savings: £1,712 this winter alone

And it gets better. In the warmer months, we expect to earn money through solar power - projecting a net credit of £569 this summer, compared to a £834 summer bill in previous years.

Annual savings estimated: £3,195

What About the Upfront Cost?

Yes, it’s a big investment:

• Heat pump (after £7,500 government grant): £11,000

• Solar panels + battery: £25,000

• Total: £36,000

  
  

Right now, that gives us a payback period of about 11.5 years. But with electricity prices expected to fall (thanks to more renewable energy) and green levies likely shifting from electricity to gas, we’re looking at breaking even in just 6 years.

What’s Next?

We'll do a full review at the end of the summer to see how much we saved during the solar-heavy months.

If you're interested in diving deeper into the technical details or want to follow more of Dan’s journey into sustainable living, you can find the full series on his blog, The Directionally Good Life. We’d like to thank Dan for generously allowing Your Energy Your Way to share his real-world experience as a homeowner who has made the switch to renewables - his insights are invaluable for anyone considering a similar path.