Dwellow has launched a new interactive heat pump running cost calculator.
The company said its new tool allows users to change the variables behind the calculation and immediately see the effect on predicted running costs.
Users can adjust their annual heating demand, heat pump efficiency, electricity tariff, existing heating system and energy prices, as well as modelling the potential impact of solar PV and battery storage. The tool then recalculates the figures in real time, allowing different scenarios to be compared rather than presenting households with a single headline estimate.
Ian McLaren, co-founder of Dwellow, said: “One of the hardest questions for anyone in our industry to answer is also one of the first questions customers ask: ‘How much will a heat pump cost me to run?’
“The problem is that there isn’t one meaningful answer. Two households with apparently similar properties can have very different running costs depending on heat demand, system efficiency, electricity tariff and how the heat pump has been designed and operated.
“We wanted to build something that doesn’t hide those variables from the user. Instead, we’ve put them front and centre.”
Dwellow added that the calculator has been designed to address a wider problem with discussions around heat pump economics: estimates can appear definitive when they are actually highly dependent on the assumptions behind them.
The company stated that a change in seasonal coefficient of performance (SCOP), for example, can materially alter projected electricity consumption. Likewise, it noted that moving onto a different electricity tariff can change the economics without anything about the heat pump itself changing.
Dwellow said the calculator allows those assumptions to be adjusted individually. It gives users the ability to explore how different system designs and energy prices could affect their own costs.
Adam Raw, co-founder of Dwellow, added: “A calculator is only as useful as the assumptions behind it.
“If somebody is shown that a heat pump will save them a particular amount every year, they should be able to understand where that figure came from.
“With our calculator, you can change the efficiency, change the tariff or change the home’s heating demand and immediately see what happens. It’s designed to help people understand the maths rather than simply trust the output.”
The Dwellow Heat Pump Running Cost Calculator is free to use and does not require users to submit an email address or contact details.