I know of a couple of people who installed heat-pumps here in Ireland and they've found them absolutely uneconomic to run. They were sold as 'energy saving' and 'environmentally friendly' as opposed to burning gas, oil, solid fuels etc but, they're just insanely expensive to operate on our power pricing and also I don't think the temperatures here really lend themselves to heat-pump technologies.
One of my friends installed a system and their heating bill went from about €90 euro a month with natural gas, to over €500 per month with a heat pump. So, naturally enough they are having a massive dispute with the guy who sold it to them.
Also, from an environmental point of view, certainly in this country anyway, it really doesn't make much sense right now as the vast majority of power is still fossil fuel generated. We have no nuclear, hydro's quite limited and large scale wind is only just coming on-stream in a big way.
Pricewise, it simply makes no sense here to heat with electricity.
Natural gas here works out at 5.46 cent (7.82 US Cents) per kWh (it's charged in kWh using a conversion factor nowadays rather than in cubic meters)
My electricity provider, Airtricity (wind power company) is charging :
Day rate: 15.53 cent (22.25 US Cents)
Night rate: 7.68 cent (11.00 US Cents)
So, as you can see there's a very significant financial reason to stay very far away from electric heating here.
(The majority of homes do use electric cooking though)
Also the hydronic systems seem to be vastly more energy-efficient compared to the heatpumps I've seen. The amount of power that goes in to produce that heat seems ridiculous given how little heat they actually produce.
The main fuels used :
Natural gas (via mains supply) - by far the biggest sector.
Gas-oil / Kerosine - pressure jet systems - common in less built up areas / rural areas. Fuel oils aren't used here for environmental reasons, hence it's kerosine / gas-oil.
LPG (Propane) via bulk tank delivery to a local storage tank located in the garden, or sometimes via very large cylinders which are delivered. Typically, there would be 4 or 5 of these all connected to a system to feed the house.
Solid fuels : Smoke-free coals, turf, wood etc for use in stoves and fireplaces (some of which heat radiators too)
Wood pellets: These are becoming a lot more popular, but mostly in rural / outer suburban areas as they're a bit impractical in built-up areas.
