Should I be switching my gas (or oil-fired) boiler for an electric heat pump? It is a question a lot of people are asking and the considerations involved in answering it are not entirely straight forward. For years, the adage has been, “if you are on mains gas, then don’t change to a heat pump”. As the electricity grid continues to reduce its carbon intensity, that argument is becoming increasingly tenuous and soon it will be just plain wrong advice both in terms of cost in use and relative global warming potentials. Let us have a look at some of the issues involved and compare how gas or oil-fired boilers and electric heat pumps work.