Heating Cost Calculator

Use our Heating Cost Calculator to help understand the benefits of alternative fuels. The values provided are just to get you started. Simply enter your own costs in the input fields provided. For example:

You may be able to purchase Kai Point coal at $65 per tonne, therefore enter '65' in the Fuel Cost field for Kai Point. Click the 'Calculate' button at the bottom of the McKenzie Boiler section to see the resulting Cost per kWh.
Now, compare this to your electricity costs by entering the Unit Cost and Line Charges from your last power bill in the Electricity section and click this section's 'Calculate' button. See the difference in Cost per kWh compared to Kai Point Coal?
Finally, at the bottom of the page, see what your overall annual savings could be in the 'Annual Heating Cost' section. Enter the number of occupants living in your household and click the last 'Calculate' button. Here you can see the overall cost of the five main sources of fuel alongside the overall savings for each compared to the cost of electricity.

	Fuel Source	Caloricic Value mJ per kg	Fuel Cost $ per tonne	Efficiency	Cost per kWh (cents)
McKenzie Boiler	Coal
	Ohai	22.77		87%	3.6
	New Vale	13.66		87%	3.3
	Kai Point	18.19		87%	1.6
	Roxborough (Harliwich)	17.11		87%	1.2
	Island Block	29.19		87%	2.5
	Canterbury Coal	19.4		87%	2.1
	Huntly West	22.9		87%	2.7
	Other			87%	???
McKenzie Boiler	Wood Pellets	18.5		90%	9.7


Boiler	LPG	50.2	$ per kg	90%	13.3
Boiler	Deisel	mJ per litre 45.9	$ per litre	88%	10.2


		mJ per kg	$ per cubic metre	Efficiency	Cost per kWh (cents)
Open Fire	Wood	15.5		15%	32.9
Closed Fire (e.g. Pot Belly)	Wood	15.5		40%	12.3
Modern Wood Burner	Wood	15.5		65%	7.6


		Unit Cost * ($ per unit)	Line Charge # ($ per unit)	Efficiency	Cost per kWh (cents)
Electricity					15.94
Heat Pump				Coefficient of perfomance 3.0	5.3
* enter the unit rate from your last power account # enter the line charge from your last power account

Notes:

Gross calorific values for coal as published by the Coal Research Association of New Zealand.

Gross calorific value for wood ranges 14-17 kJ/kg, calculation assumes 400kg per cubic metre.

Heat pump coefficient of performance may vary depending on unit and outside conditions.

Annual Heating Cost

This table is based on average annual energy usage per occupant of 3500kWh space heating and 1000kWh hot water heating. Savings are compared to electricity and calculated from the costs per kWh established above.

Number of Occupants	kWh each	Total kWh
	4500	22500

Fuel	Cost PA	Saving
Coal (Kai)
Wood Pellets
LPG
Deisel
Electricity		0.00