UK Heat Pump Market Witness Slow Growth
In order to meet government ambitions of installing 600,000 heat pumps year by 2028, the UK will need to expand heat pump installations elevenfold.
The UK's independent public expenditure watchdog, the National Audit Office (NAO), claims that the government's estimates of manufacturer supply and consumer demand are exaggerated. Only 18,900 heat pumps were installed under the government's flagship Boiler Upgrade Scheme between May 2022 and December 2023, according to the most recent report from the NAO. As of right now, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) anticipated that the programme will result in 50,000 installations.
The expense of using and installing heat pumps is a major factor contributing to their lower-than-expected acceptance, according to the NAO. According to the report, DESNZ postponed its intended work to lower operating expenses by balancing the pricing of gas and electricity, for instance by shifting some levies and charges from electricity bills to gas bills. According to the department, price rebalancing is still a crucial policy, notwithstanding its difficulties. According to the NAO assessment, heat pump installation prices also decreased more slowly than DESNZ had anticipated.
The NAO also discovered that DESNZ lacks a comprehensive long-term plan to address people' inadequate understanding of the procedures necessary to decarbonise home heating.
The NAO recommends that the government provide an annual report on its progress to Parliament in order to increase openness and accountability regarding the spread of heat pumps.
The government should create a comprehensive, long-term plan for consumer participation to decarbonise home heating, according to the public expenditure watchdog. Furthermore, it suggests that DESNZ expedites its efforts to achieve energy cost parity in order to enhance heat pump adoption.
The head of the government's Environmental Audit Committee, Philip Dunne MP, commented on the report and the necessity of decarbonising older, less energy-efficient homes, saying that "rapid adoption of innovative technologies like heat pumps can play a bigger role in moving these harder to insulate homes away from fossil fuel heat." However, doing so frequently necessitates a substantial amount of additional labour. Improving affordability must continue to be at the top of the agenda. The now-dissolved Energy Efficiency Taskforce was anticipated to offer creative ideas for making installations and retrofits more cheap.
"Rebalancing the cost of electricity and gas and removing levies from electricity bills will result in immediate savings for households looking to make the switch as the rising cost of living places an increasing strain on families across the UK," insisted Russell Dean, director of Mitsubishi Electric's residential product group.
"Educating consumers on the significance of heat pump technology will also be crucial to encouraging wider uptake, as over 70% of consumers know little to nothing about how it works," he continued. Rocio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at consumer advocacy group Which?, concurred, saying that consumers are currently being prevented from leading more sustainable lives by the cost of some green technologies, like heat pumps, as well as a lack of knowledge and trustworthy information. Approximately 44% of homeowners do not even know what a heat pump is.
Source: Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ)