What Is the Truth About Electric Heating?
Author: Tóth Tamás · 5 min read
When is electric heating a good decision, and when not? Based on a 2019 radio report: insulation, flat size, investment and running costs, electricity price risk, solar panels and district heating – supplemented with today's metering rules.
Electric heating is a good decision where the building is well insulated, the area to be heated is small, and the saving on the investment is worth it together with the expected running cost. In an uninsulated old house, however, it can be distinctly uneconomical. The experts and users interviewed in a 2019 Kossuth Radio (Hungarian public radio) report saw it the same way; we summarise their experience, supplemented with today's rules.
In recent years there has been growing interest in electric heating systems. Whoever faces the decision is choosing for decades, and old habits and opinions based on experience from years ago do not always help. A good example is infrared heating, about which many contradictory claims circulate.
Why do many people choose electric heating instead of gas?
Those interviewed in the report mentioned several reasons. For some, circumstances decided. A mechanical engineer had gas heating in his home until the authority declared the chimney unfit for further heating use. Modernising the chimney would then have cost nearly HUF 1 million, so he looked for other solutions, and in the end chose electric heating.
The lower installation cost
Another interviewee deliberately chose heating for his new home, calculating the costs through. In his case, building gas heating would have cost roughly HUF 1.5 million in 2019, while the total cost of electric heating was HUF 300 thousand. According to him, instead of a gas bill and an electricity bill he pays only one bill, his utility costs did not rise, contrary to the myths, and he likes the system for its quiet operation and lower maintenance needs. These are the figures of one particular flat at that time – at today's prices it always has to be recalculated.
What determines the heating of the future?
According to the report, climate change is an unavoidable topic. EU legislation regulates the energy properties of heating and cooling systems ever more strictly, so in the long term regulation fundamentally influences which systems get installed. This is nuanced by individual needs and the features of the property and plot.
What criteria should we choose by?
Insulation
This is perhaps the most important. Where there is no or weak thermal insulation – for example in many old cube-shaped houses – electric heating can be uneconomical. It is therefore not worth saving on insulation, and the sizing of the heating system should also start from the insulated state.
Comfort needs
There is no answer valid for everyone to the question of which heating is the most comfortable. Some find it important to control the heating from a phone and have warmth waiting when they arrive home; for others the warmth of a tiled stove means comfort. Every solution has its advantages and limits.
Type and size of the building
It matters whether it is a newly built or an older house, and how large the floor area to be heated is. According to the report, for smaller flats of under 40–50 m² electric heating is a distinctly good solution. This does not mean that a working gas heating should be replaced immediately: there are situations and conditions where gas is more suitable. In the centre of Budapest, however, conventional gas appliances can no longer be used in several places because of stricter flue gas discharge rules.
What does it cost? Investment and running together
In both renovation and construction, the total cost has to be looked at: the investment and the later running costs together. It happens that a system is cheap to build but more expensive to maintain, while another is dearer to set up but has lower running costs – so in the long run the more expensive can be the cheaper, and vice versa. You will find a comparison of heat pumps and infrared heating at today's prices in our cost comparison.
A few years ago the view was still general that both building and maintaining electric heating is expensive. By the time of the report solar panels had become more accessible, and EU rules also monitor the efficiency of electrical equipment ever more strictly – so it is worth checking old opinions against today's figures.
What happens if electricity gets more expensive?
Nobody can say the price of electricity in advance. The risk can be reduced if part of the electricity needed for heating is produced by your own solar panels. Even then it is not worth disconnecting from the grid: in winter, when there is less sunshine, we draw from the grid.
With the net metering common at the time of the report, summer surplus production could offset winter drawing. Today this is no longer the case for new systems: since 1 January 2024 gross metering applies in Hungary, and the fed-in and drawn electricity are read and accounted for separately every month. Only those who submitted the installation request by 13 September 2023 and commission the system by 1 January 2026 could stay on net metering – and even then for up to 10 years. Solar panels thus reduce the electricity you buy, and the saving has to be calculated with your own consumption habits.
In a flat with district heating
In a flat with district heating, expenses can also be reduced, though it takes calculation. Electric heating can also be built as a supplement, and you can check in which period electric heating alone is enough, and when district heating also has to be used.
Electricity will play an ever bigger role
The advance of electricity is a worldwide trend: growing energy demand is ever harder to cover from fossil sources, whereas electricity can also be generated from renewables. In Hungary too, more and more properties use electric heating – infrared underfloor heating, infrared ceiling heating, infrared panels, panel heaters, heating mats, electric towel warmers or heating film. Before you start, ask for expert help so that you really choose a system that suits the building; you can request a quote on our quote request page. Installation is available in Hungary.
The article was based on a 2019 Kossuth Radio report on electric heating.
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