"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 15 Mar 2006 12:02:07 GMT Fray Bentos wrote :
When it finally runs out / becomes too expensive / rare , will we
be living in all-electric homes?

Standard tariff electricity is 3-4 times the price of gas per kWh. But
as we build better insulated and better sealed homes that need a lot
less energy and as the price of gas c.h. servicing and repairs goes up
the TCO of electric heating may well become lower than for gas.

In some cases it already is.

When I owned a rental flat it used to cost me almost as much
to service the aged boiler [1] each year than I payed in electric
to heat my own all electric (UK) house.
There were some studios in the same block with GCH that
could easily have been kept warm with 2 NSR at less TCO.

GCH is installed because buyers 'expect' it. It really annoys me
when I see these property programs criticise a small flat with
perfectly adequate for the size of the property NSRs because
"it needs GCH installing".

tim

[1] I couldn't replace it because the new ones (apparently) required
a larger flue and the freeholders would allow tenants to make bigger
holes in the roof.