Another Blow to the Heat Pump Agenda

When will green elites admit the game is up?

Amid the many complaints about the deficits of modern life, grumbles about gas-fired central heating are extremely rare. For sure, radiators are not as cosy as an open fire. But the convenience of warming a home at the push of a button on a device that can fit in a kitchen cupboard is unmatched. Yet banning the gas boiler has been at the top of recent governments’ policy agendas. But their determined efforts to make the world – but not our houses and flats – a better place were dealt another blow this week by an analysis from the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA). Among the EUA’s findings is that there were fewer than 300,000 heat pump installations in the six years 2019-2026.

Worst still for the Gaia-botherers of SW1A, people are increasingly turning their noses up at the inferior appliances – the rate of household’s adoption of heat pumps is falling, despite new regulations. 1.5 million gas boilers are relaced each year in Britain’s 28 million or so homes, at an average cost of around £2,500 each. With just 50,000 or so opting for a heat pump, it would seem that the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) or ‘boiler tax’ of £36 per unit, which requires an increasing proportion of heat pumps to be sold, is having little effect. Mike Foster, CEO of EUA, explained: “Instead of stimulating demand, the CHMM has delivered higher costs with declining installations — the opposite of what ministers promised.”

At such a low rate of installation, it would take more than five centuries to replace the boilers in 28 million homes. That’s a cold stark fact when the normal rate of replacement (1.5 million per year) would see all of Britain’s gas boilers replaced every 18.6 years.

The issue is of course economic. Whereas the average gas boiler replacement costs around £2,500, the average air-source heat pump costs £13,700. “The Government grant (BUS) is worth £7,500,” says the EUA, “leaving £6,200 to be found by the householder.”