Electricity is typically more expensive than natural gas, so electric boilers and thermal stores can be more expensive to run than gas boilers.

With the drive on carbon reduction, it is essential that the cost to switch to electricity is kept to a minimum by ensuring that it is used at the lowest cost periods, or renewable technologies such as solar PV are incorporated into the product to minimise the running costs.

By utilising an electric only thermal store solution to provide heating and hot water, such as ELECTRAflow or ELECTRAstore, the electricity can be used when tariffs are at their lowest, whether it be the well known Economy 7 or Economy 10 tariffs or the newer time of use tariffs such as Octopus Agile. Thermal stores can maximise the energy provided to heat the store to provide the heating and hot water to the property at whatever time of day it is required.

Where an electric combination boiler is utilised, it will generally be used during periods where the electricity tariffs are at their most expensive therefore increasing the ongoing running costs.

The ELECTRAstore electric thermal store provides the ultimate flexibility for both PV integration and smart technology, not available with an electric combination boiler.

The smart technology ‘learns’ the homeowners heating and hot water demand, intelligently heating the store at the lowest cost periods to the level to meet the predicted demand. Being able to do this ensures the running costs are kept to the minimum.

With the addition of PV integration through the controller, via and Iboost or similar, allows the store to utilise ‘free’ energy to heat the stored water up to 90 degrees, reducing the reliance on grid electricity.

Electric combi boilers have a limited heating capacity, which means they may not be suitable for homes with multiple hot water appliances running at the same time. This issue is overcome with the thermal store solution.

An electric thermal store can store a large amount of hot water, so there is less chance of running out of hot water during peak demand times. This is especially useful for households with multiple bathrooms or people who take long showers.

Correctly sizing the thermal store will ensure it will meet the kW requirement of both the heating and hot for the property, whilst also maximising the potential for load shifting the energy requirements.

If there is a power cut, an electric boiler will not be able to provide heating or hot water. This can be a problem if you live in an area with frequent power cuts.

Utilising a thermal store, whilst the heating would be unavailable as it requires a pump to circulate the water around the heating system, the domestic hot water is still supplied to the property, even during a power cut.

This is because the heat has already been generated within the thermal store, therefore no electrical input is required. When the hot water is drawn from the taps, this is delivered through the mains pressure of the cold water, instantaneously heating as it passes through the internal heat exchanger, therefore no additional pump (or electricity) is required to meet the hot water requirement for the property.

Electric thermal stores require less maintenance than electric combination boilers. This is because there are fewer moving parts and no flue to clean.

Electric combi boilers can require a lot of power, with models averaging between 10kW and 24kW. In some instances, the homeowner may need to upgrade your electrical supply to accommodate, which can be an additional cost.

With the ELECTRAflow and ELECTRAstore thermal stores, there is a maximum load of 6kW or 9kW respectively, a much lower kW demand than the combination boiler alternative.