Brits need more information for heat pump roll-out, says energy specialist

Brits need to be shown more details about heat pumps and their potential cost-saving benefits if they are going to replace gas boilers at scale, suggests a leading energy specialist.

Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) revealed that the main barrier for heat pump installations was the perceived disruption of having the heat pump installed.

This was reported by 47 per cent of people questioned for ESC’s ‘Home Survey and Installation Report’ who decided not to proceed with a heat pump installation.

The Government is aiming to install 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, and is looking to find ways to encourage the industry to reach the target.

ESC has concluded that providing customers with an overview of the design and installation journey at the outset can allay concerns about the process, alongside a digestible summary of the facts and assumptions about their property.

It argued that interest in heat pumps is high across Britain, with over 8,800 households applying in three regions to participate in the Government’s Electrification of Heat (EoH) Demonstration Project.

This has resulted in a total of 742 heat pumps being installed.

Funded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Demonstration Project is assessing the technical and practical feasibility, and constraints of a mass roll out of heat pumps into British homes.

Guy Newey, chief executive of ECS said: “To reach the target, we will need to innovate to make switching to a heat pump as smooth a journey as possible for consumers; to drive down the costs of installation; and to provide a much better consumer-heating experience.

“From our own work, we feel this will require the sector to translate complexity into digestible, consumer-friendly offers – such as bundling net zero products like heat pumps into energy tariffs – to help customers to retrofit their homes. Any low carbon heating solution needs to be as good, or better than, the alternatives if we are to go at the scale and pace we need for our net zero targets.”