ᐅ Air-to-water heat pump or district heating

arnonyme schrieb:
I estimate around 20 cents/kWh.

That seems low to me. But if this is the case, as an example:
Assuming a conservative annual performance factor (COP) of 3.5 for the air-to-water heat pump means you pay 5.7 cents per kWh of heat from the air-to-water heat pump. District heating costs 9.2 cents per kWh, so the difference is 3.5 cents per kWh.
If the air-to-water heat pump costs €2,800 more upfront (while you still don’t know the installation costs for district heating), dividing that by the 3.5 cents per kWh equals 80,000 kWh of heat (not electricity) you would need to consume to make the heat pump worthwhile. That might happen after about 12 years, roughly estimated. The payback would be shorter if you include the installation costs of district heating, or longer if your electricity price is different.
Maintenance costs and price changes are not considered here (district heating is a monopoly – take it or leave it! How long do you have a price guarantee?). The air-to-water heat pump likely has low to no maintenance costs; for district heating, I don’t know, but I’d guess it’s similarly low.

I was actually about to do a calculation here before I even saw Alex’s post.
My calculation would have been very similar, just with less specific numbers.
So I fully agree with Alex here— in my opinion, the air-to-water heat pump is the better option.

In my brother’s rental building, there was a sharp increase in the price of district heating, and there was nothing you could do but accept it.
With an air-to-water heat pump, at least you still have the option to switch providers.

What hasn’t been considered, however, is that district heating is supplied at that price even in winter.
The air-to-water heat pump may need to activate the electric heating element when temperatures drop below -10°C (14°F), which is somewhat more expensive, but in my view that doesn’t significantly affect the overall calculation.

Kaspatoo schrieb:
What hasn’t been considered yet is that district heating is also charged at this price during winter.
The air-to-water heat pump may need to activate the electric heating element below -10°C (14°F), which is a bit more expensive, but in my opinion, this doesn’t significantly affect the overall calculation.

This is already accounted for in the seasonal performance factor, and I wasn’t overly optimistic with 3.5 anyway. It’s just a rough estimate.
With district heating, I would also be concerned whether the capacity charge might increase—you’re basically at the supplier’s mercy. On the other hand, there’s no hassle with outdoor units, and I don’t know how long the district heating substation will last. The air-to-water heat pump will eventually need to be replaced, which means another investment in the future.

Here in my town, my architect mentioned that a few streets were lured into district heating back when it was heavily promoted with free energy supply offers (because nobody else wanted to connect). Those conditions still apply, even though the supplier no longer likes it, but apparently the contract was really structured that way 🙂 That definitely has its advantages 🙂