29th October 2026
Today I saw a Cadent (1) van with the slogan “Keeping you warm” which I questioned.
What did it mean?
Is this the only way of keeping warm? Are other alternatives available?
No to the first and yes to the second.
Electricity is definitely an alternative and if used to power a heat pump, is far more efficient at keeping homes warm. British Gas’s own web site say that a gas boiler is up to 90% whilst a heat pump can be up to 380% efficient. (2) This means for every unit of energy that goes into a heat pump the heat output will be nearly 4 times as much. Heat pumps are super efficient. To be fair at current prices the unit cost of electricity is more that the unit cost of gas. This is due to a quirk in the way electricity prices are calculated – bizarrely it is the high price of electricity produced by gas power stations rather than from renewable sources that accounts for this.(3) Are gas prices alway going to be less than electricity prices? Looking around the world and seeing the conflicts effecting gas, the answer surely is no.
On the other hand some electrical suppliers provide very attractive pricing packages that making running a heat pump much more affordable – eg Octopus Cosy (4)
However the cost of retrofit installing a heat pump is more than simply replacing a boiler – even with the currently available government grant (5). Keeping warm is always easier if you have enough spare income or capital. Gas may keep you warm if you can’t afford to invest in a better alternative.
Extra home insulation will certainly help keep you warm – and once paid for – at no extra cost. MoneySupermarket suggests for example that for a typical house loft insulation can save £380 a year on heating bills. (6) However again you do need the upfront cash. Curiously the Great British Insulation grant scheme was ended by the government earlier this year! – although there are still some grants for those in particularly constrained circumstances. (7)
Back to the ‘Keeping you Warm’ slogan. Is it an acknowledgment that burning gas is warming the planet keeping us all warm, like it or not? In England mean temperatures this summer were at least 2.4°C above average. (8)
Visiting Cadent’s website, you will find the longer version of their tag line: “We are Cadent. Keeping people warm, while protecting the planet”!!! (9) Surely they cannot both praise themselves for delivering gas to customers and praise themselves for protecting the planet? The more gas they deliver (to ‘keep us warm’) the greater the amount of dangerous greenhouse gas emissions being put into the atmosphere!
We seem to be stuck in a system where in all parts of the chain from gas fields to boilers, no one is calling time on the continued use of gas. Not even the government! It is barely a week since the government approved the licensing of the Jackdaw gas field on the grounds that it would protect security of supply – plus a (small) number of jobs – for the consumer. Jackdaw will increase domestic production of gas by 6% – which is a mere 2% of all the gas we currently use. (10) For this ‘benefit’ Jackdaw’s developer, Adura (a new joint Shell and Equinor company) will receive subsidies in terms of tax relief for development cost. Then after the anticipated 11 year life of Jackdaw, a further subsidies towards the costs of decommissioning the gas field. (11)
Surely it would be better for the government to use its financial resources and legislative clout to improve the insulation of buildings, to upgrade the electricity grid, and enable the installation of more solar panels, heat pumps and batteries? Equally would such measures be a more effective way of enabling the UK’s transition away from fossil fuels to a net zero renewables economy?
(1) Cadent is the company which looks after the UK’s gas pipe network; it doesn’t itself buy or sell or produce gas
(2) https://www.britishgas.co.uk/heating/guides/air-source-heat-pumps-vs-boilers.html
(3) https://www.carbonbrief.org/qa-why-are-uk-energy-bills-so-high-and-how-could-they-be-lowered
(4) https://octopus.energy/blog/heat-pump-run-cost-savings/
(5) https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/heat-pumps-grant/
(6) https://www.moneysupermarket.com/gas-and-electricity/loft-insulation/
(7) https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/utilities/free-cavity-loft-insulation/#lowincome
(8) https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/blog/2026/summer-2026-so-far-a-look-at-the-season-at-the-halfway-point-
(9) https://cadentgas.com/getmedia/54c406e9-88fe-4d3b-aa90-049e83c21cda/Introduction.pdf
(10) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq4g13pplyzzo
(11) https://theconversation.com/jackdaw-approval-what-a-new-north-sea-gasfield-means-for-uk-energy-security-bills-and-tax-291418 and https://www.e3g.org/news/north-sea-oil-gas-bad-deal-uk-taxpayer/
