By Chrysostomos Tsoufis

The start of the distribution of heating oil – today that is – traditionally marks the start of the winter season, even if nothing in the current weather conditions is winter.

Households, however, now have the prices of all energy sources at their disposal in order to calculate what is economically beneficial for heating this year.

Our calculations will be made with the assumption that both in the Middle East and on the Ukrainian front there will be no outbreaks, which can shoot up energy prices in seconds.

And as a basis for our examples, we will take a house of 100 sq.m. with moderate thermal insulation – like the majority – in the center of Athens:

  • HEATING OIL: Let’s consider that an average family operates the heating system 5 hours – although in many apartment buildings it operates significantly less – with the thermostat at 20 degrees. 5 hours is equivalent to approximately 3.1 liters/day and therefore a monthly consumption of 93 liters. Heating oil started to be available at €1.17-€1.20/liter so the total monthly cost is between €108.8 and €111.6.

(Last year the corresponding example gave €128.3, a drop from 13% to 15.2%)

  • NATURAL GAS: The conversion gives us that a liter of oil with – say 90% efficiency – is equivalent to 10.6Kwh. Therefore the 93 liters in the previous example is equivalent to 986 – rounded off – thermal Kwh. Natural gas is currently trading at €40/MhW. Therefore, the total cost of the monthly heating will amount to 986×0.055=€39.44

(Last year the corresponding example gave €54, a drop of 27%)

  • AIR CONDITIONER:( Here we are talking exclusively about inverter technology 1 body of 18,000 btu and 2 of 9,000 btu). The consumption for the 5 hours of the example is 15.3 Kwh/day and therefore 459 Kwh/month.

– The average price of the fixed tariffs of all providers is currently at 14.2 cents/KwH so the final monthly cost is at €65.2 (without the additional charges of municipalities, etc.)
– The average price of the floating tariffs (from what has been announced because many companies have not posted the tariffs on the RAEEY website) rises to €15.1. So the monthly cost increases to €69.3
An air conditioner without inverter technology would cost €93.7 and €99 respectively

  • HEAT PUMP(High energy efficiency): Roughly such a system would consume 10 Kwh per day or 300 Kwh/month.

Based on the prices in the example of the air conditioner, the average monthly cost for a fixed tariff is €42.6/month
For the floating tariff, it rises to €45.3

  • ELECTRICAL BODIES/HEATERS: Consumption with this system amounts to 30Kwh/day or 900Kwh.

Therefore, the average monthly cost for a fixed tariff is €127.8/month
For the floating tariff, it rises to €135.9

In conclusion, by far, the cheapest option is natural gas, followed by the heat pump.

A little further back are the new technology air conditioners

As expected, the most expensive way of heating is electric units, followed by old air conditioners and heating oil with little difference between them.