Do electric fireplaces save on heating bills?

With energy prices rising, you might be wondering whether an electric fire would help to lower your heating bills. Let’s investigate.

Whether electric fireplaces save on heating bills will ultimately come down to how the fireplace in question is used and what you were using before replacing the heat with an electric fireplace.

There are a few factors at play here, so let’s take a look at some of them to determine whether an electric fireplace will help you save on heating bills.

Rising oil and gas prices

Electricity prices have been rising, but those rises could be dwarfed by rising oil and gas prices prompted by the war in Ukraine and sanctions against Russia. At the time of writing, around 44% of the UK’s electricity is being generated from renewable sources, such as solar power, wind power and hydroelectric power. As a consequence, you would imagine it might be easier to protect electricity prices from the harshest increases in comparison to oil-fired central heating, gas-fired central heating and gas fires, which will be directly impacted by oil and natural gas price rises.

100% efficiency

Unlike gas central heating, oil central heating and wood-burning stoves, the heat from electric fireplaces is not dependent on your burning something within your property. As such, it is 100% efficient at the point of use. With the other heating options, you’re paying to create heat that is lost up a chimney or boiler flue. With electric fireplaces, everything you pay for goes towards heating your home.

Greater control

An electric fireplace switches on and off instantly, and gets up to full power almost immediately. As such, you can easily create a quick blast of heat and control how long that lasts (and therefore how much it costs). With oil or gas central heating, you’re burning fuel long before your radiators heat up.

Setting the mood

If you currently use a wood-burning stove or gas fire to create a cosy atmosphere as much as for the heat generated, then electric fireplaces will definitely save on your heating bills. Electric fireplaces like the Ezee Glow 60″ Celestial Built-In Electric Fire have flame effects that can be used independently of the heater. As such, the cost of setting the mood drops to the tiny costs associated with operating the LED flames.

Will electric fireplaces save on heating bills for you?

So, the big question: do electric fireplaces save on heating bills? If you’re able to use your electric fireplace in a way that reduces your reliance on central heating, then the answer will probably be yes. If you use it in addition to other forms of heating rather than as a replacement or partial replacement, then obviously it will bring a small additional cost to your heating bills.

If your electricity tariff charges 22p per kWh, using the Ezee Glow 50” Celestial Built-In Media Wall Electric Fire at its maximum heat output of 1.6kW would cost you just over 35p for an hour. In fact, you could have your electric fire running 10 hours per day and it would only cost £3.52. You might get a bit warm, though!

We worked that out by taking the unit price per kWh of electricity and multiplying it by the heat output of the electric fire in kilowatts. That gives you an hourly price, which you can multiply by the number of hours the electric fireplace will be in use each day to get a daily price. So:

You could break down your most recent energy bill to work out what you’re currently paying per day to heat your home.

Ready to look for electric fireplaces?

If you’re happy with the prospective impact on your heating bills based on what you’ve read, you might be ready to start looking for an electric fireplace for your home. You’ll find an array of options on our website.