Electric heating... an alternative to a heat pump

Hello All, New member, first post :)

I have been wanting a battery solution for some years as I have a 6kW electric boiler, but I couldn't install one as I live in a flat.

These new plugin battery solutions seem to be a real game changer. Because it's a flat, a heat pump is a difficult decision, the install and up front costs even with the grant would make it hard to justify based on economics. I am already on a potentially green fuel so carbon reduction is not an argument either.

My solution up until now was to fit a smart zoning system to control the heating (Evotouch by Honeywell/Resideo)

This made a massive difference to running costs because rooms are only heated when needed, so the heat demand from the boiler is often reduced to a few hundred watts. It is off most of the time, and nothing is more efficient than something that is off :)

I also switched to a time of use tariff (Octopus Cosy) so in addition to switching unused rooms down to a lower temperature I slightly tweak the temperatures up in others by 0.5°C 30 min before peak rate, and drop them again when the rate increased between 4 and 7pm. If the room is at a comfortable temperature this shift is unnoticeable but it is absolutely noticeable in the cost to run! [total electricity, including home use £95pcm (working from home, in Scotland) and we are £300 in credit]

I have just hard wired an Ecoflow Stream AC Pro and it is fantastic!

This is a toe in the water first step, but even this 2kWh battery can already cover all of the household demands with electricity at ±10p/kWh (Sept 2026 figure).

This is saving of 13p/kWh on normal rate (13 hours) and 26.6p/kWh at peak rate (3 hours). The really good thing about the Cosy tariff is the three 'over night' rate periods so between 1pm and 4pm the battery recharges again. Hard to say just now, but I think payback will be about a year

I can see a second 2kW battery coming if Ecoflow prices fall to the normal EU levels :)

Regards AtM