Best Heating Options for Irish Homes [Costs and More]

Choosing the right home heating system is a big decision. Because it could save you or cost you thousands in living costs over the coming years. Plus, keeping the temperature right is essential for comfort and health.

Making Sense of the Options

On the finance side, we’ll use cost per kWh of delivered heat and installation cost to compare options.

However, the best option is specific to each home and your personal preferences. Consider:

• How well-insulated is the home?
• Would you spend more now to save in the future?
• How much do you value convenience?

Let’s start with a quick summary of the options:

Overview of Heating Systems for Irish Homes

You Might Not Have Considered This

Choosing the right heating system matters – but it’s only half of the story. Because no matter what heating system you choose, the way it’s set up also has a massive impact on the running cost and your comfort.

Take heat pumps for example.

These can be anywhere from 200% to 600% efficient. That’s the difference between an €1,000 and a €3,000 heating bill!

But it’s not only heat pumps… Condenser boilers also need careful tuning to achieve their efficiency potential. And they usually don’t get it! This simple omission might be costing you hundreds of euros every winter.

Moral of the story: Take just as much care with choosing your heating installer as you do with choosing the heating type. Now on to the options.

1. Solid Fuel Stoves

If you can get turf or logs for free, then noting can beat a range/stove for cost-effectiveness. There’s also the romance: Woolly socks and fire burning on a wintery night.

But there are downsides:

• Ashes, chimney cleaning, and messy fuel
• Indoor and outdoor air pollution
• Your home will be cold until you get the fire going

What if you don’t have a free source of solid fuel?

Solid fuel heating is not so cost-effective if you have to buy it. For example, if you pay €18 per 20 kg bag of coal, then 1 kWh of heat delivered to your home will cost around €0.138. Not great.

2. Home Heating Oil

Heating oil is a convenient fuel for central heating. Just flick a switch for hot radiators in minutes. Or set up a thermostat to keep your home at a comfortable temperature around the clock. Moreover, oil boilers are familiar and reasonably priced.

On the other hand… oil tanks are ugly!

Moreover, oil is an expensive energy source. Specifically, it costs around €0.152 to deliver one unit of heat from kerosene to your home.

And the long term cost outlook is even worse…

The world isn’t running low on oil, but the best resources are already depleted. This leaves ever-deeper drilling and distant offshore exploration as the only ways for oil companies to keep the black gold flowing. You eventually pay these costs when it’s time to fill your oil tank.

Carbon tax is putting further upward pressure on heating oil prices. In May 2024, the rate reached €141.80 per 1,000 litres, with increases scheduled every year to 2030.

Overall, oil is a convenient but expensive source of heat, and the outlook is for it to become even more expensive.

Oil vs Gas Heating Cost Calculator
Oil vs Heat Pump Cost Calculator
Oil vs Heat Pump Payback Period Calculator

3. Wood Pellet Burners

Wood pellets are cylinders of compressed sawdust.

Used with a wood pellet burner, which operates a lot like an oil boiler. The difference: Instead of filling a tank with kerosene, you’ll fill a hopper with pellets.

Wood pellet burners are fairly convenient in most ways. But! You have to take great care with storing the pellets to prevent them absorbing moisture.

Cost: currently slightly cheaper than oil or coal, but varies yearly with timber and energy prices.

4. Natural Gas Boilers

As of 2024, natural gas is slightly cheaper than oil. But once you add the gas connection standing charge, the difference becomes minimal.

Looking to the future, carbon tax increases will also impact the cost of natural gas (albeit a little less severely than oil). Renewable gas obligations will put additional upward pressure on prices.

So natural gas also goes in the “expensive and getting more expensive” bucket along with kerosene.

On a positive note, gas heating is instantaneous and convenient, with no need for you to have a storage tank or arrange for refills.

Natural Gas vs Oil Heating Cost Calculator
Natural Gas vs Heat Pump Running Cost Calculator
Heat Pump Payback Period vs Natural Gas Calculator

5. Electric Storage Heaters

Electric storage “charge” with lower-cost nighttime electricity, and emit their heat during the day, as required.

In the past, many households got 8 hours per night of cheap electricity on a special meter just for night storage heaters.

Nowadays, you can use EV tariffs for even lower rates. But watch out! EV plans offer only 3–4 hours of low prices, sometimes with usage caps. Best for smaller homes with less heat demand.

Pros:

• Run off your existing electricity supply
• Automatic
• 100% efficiency

Cons:

• The heaters are bulky and heavy
• Choosing the right electricity contract

6. Instant Electric Heaters [All Varieties]

Marketers have invented lots of names for these. “Electric panel heaters”, “Infrared heaters”, and “Radiant heaters” to name a few.

They have some big advantages:

• Cheap to install
• Convenient to use
• Room-by-room control
• Instant heat

… but one massive downside: Daytime electricity is by far the most expensive energy source on this list.

Salesmen will tell you that they provide a “different kind” of heat, making them dramatically more efficient than other heating systems. This is not true, except in the case where the heater contacts your body directly, e.g. an electric blanket or heated clothing.

But they can make economic sense in a severely cold house. One where:

• You can only afford to heat one or two rooms at a time
• The house is cold again shortly after switching the heat off

7. Heat Pumps

Heat pumps and instant electric heaters are both powered by electricity. But in many ways they are opposites:

Under the right circumstances, heat pumps are upwards of 400% efficient, making them extremely cost-effective. To achieve good results, they need to be:

• Installed in a house with okay or good insulation
• Designed and fitted by an expert

However, heat pumps are not a miracle solution for all homes. As mentioned, okay or good insulation is a prerequisite. Choosing an electricity tariff that’s good value for heat pump owners is also key.

But the most common pitfall of heat pumps? Shoddy installation.

Particularly, installers not paying enough attention to:

• Flow rates
• Flow temperature
• Radiator sizing

Getting any of those wrong could leave you with either a cold house or massive heating bills.

But if you have a suitable home and choose the right installer, you can look forward to:

• Very low heating bills (depending on the size of your home)
• 24-7 warmth and comfort
• Maximum convenience

Heat pumps come in two main kinds: Air-to-water and ground-to-water. Either can perform great if correctly installed.

Oil vs Heat Pump Cost Calculator
Oil vs Heat Pump Payback Period Calculator
Natural Gas vs Heat Pump Running Cost Calculator
Heat Pump Payback Period vs Natural Gas Calculator

Remember to Insulate!

Insulation will help no matter what the heating system. Here are some tips:

• Attic insulation is especially cost-effective and can give you great bang for your buck
• Focus on the weakest links in your insulation, as these are where the most heat escapes
• If you’ve had a BER Assessment done in the last 10 years, then you can get some useful suggestions for free from the BER database, by searching for and downloading your Advisory Report

Still Unsure?

Here are some suggested heating systems for specific situations:

1. You have a tight budget, both for installation and running costs, and need a simple solution for a small home: Night storage heaters.
2. You have a 6-bed house from the 1800s which will be occupied by only one person. The house is “impossible to heat”, your budget is tight, and you can’t upgrade the insulation. You have a supply of logs that you can use for fuel. Solid fuel stoves + Electric heaters.
3. Your home was built in 1966, but you’ve made significant upgrades to the insulation over the years, and it now retains heat reasonably well. You’re willing to spend more now to save money over the long run, and also value comfort. Heat pump.
4. You want to stop burning fossil fuels, a heat pump doesn’t appeal to you. Wood pellet burner.
5. You currently have a condensing oil or gas boiler, but don’t know if it’s operating efficiently. Your home is not well insulated. You have enough money for a new heating system or upgraded insulation, but not both. Upgrade your insulation and get your boiler and radiators professionally tuned for efficiency.

Cost of Delivered Heat Calculations