Electricity costs for electronic radiators higher than gas costs
Electric heaters generate significantly higher costs than gas heaters. thermondo does the math: If you run a single fan heater for five hours a day at maximum power, you need 10 kWh a day. If the electricity price is 30 cents per kWh, this would amount to around 90 euros a month – for just one fan heater in just one room, which, moreover, doesn’t run all day. And that at an unrealistic electricity price because compared to the EFAHRER platform, Verivox energy expert Thorsten Storck cites an average electricity price of 42 cents per kWh for August 2022. A kWh of gas, on the other hand, currently only costs an average of 18 cents.
All in all, according to expert opinion, heating with electricity is currently about three times as expensive as heating with gas, according to the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung.
Fan heaters & Co. could cause power failures
But there is a second reason why experts advise against using fan heaters and other electric heaters as an alternative to gas heating: As Ramona Pop, Chairwoman of the Federal Association of Consumer Centers, explains to the mdr, increased use of electric heat sources can overload the electricity distribution networks. This must be avoided in any case, because power failures can have far-reaching consequences.
For this reason, the Federal Network Agency recommends households, according to mdr, to continue heating with gas, but to keep the room temperature lower than in previous winters. Just a few degrees could pay off financially. And a spokeswoman for the Federal Association of Energy and Water Management told the news channel: “In almost every household and in public buildings there are still ways to save energy – for example avoiding the bathtub, taking shorter showers or a professional heating check.”
Conclusion: fan heater for emergencies or selective use
Anyone who cannot afford a professional heating check or has the feeling that they cannot save any more kWh of gas without an electric heater can, for example, use a fan heater in rooms that are rarely used. An example would be the use of such a device in the bathroom in the morning – so the gas heating in this room does not have to be switched on at all and you can press the off button on the fan heater after about half an hour.
And: In general, it’s not a bad thing to have a fan heater in the house, says Reinhard Loch from the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer center according to the Augsburger Allgemeine. In the event of a complete gas failure, you will not be left empty-handed.
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