Tag: heat pumps

Government must fund missing billions from energy efficiency programmes

The Government’s new Heat and Buildings Strategy has had a mixed reaction, with many anti-poverty and climate change campaigners pointing to significant shortcomings in the final announcement.

The headline announcement in the strategy is a grant to help cover costs of heat pumps up to £5,000. The current cost of a heat pump is between £6,000 and £18,000.

A spokesperson for the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, commented:

For millions of households who desperately want and need to improve their energy efficiency by switching to heat pumps, the promised government money won’t be enough. While costs for heat pumps will come down in time, the level of grant available at present is nowhere near enough for households already in fuel poverty.

Coming on the back of the damning Committee for Fuel Poverty report, which suggested that government investment is not targeted at those who need it most, it would appear that the Government has yet to learn lessons from the past.

The government also needs to confirm what has happened to the missing billions, which is the gap between the investment announced today and the levels of investment promised in the Conservative Party Manifesto at the last election.

We hope the Comprehensive Spending Review will offer more support for families in fuel poverty and plug the gap between funding that has been promised and that which has been delivered.

Business and campaigners unite in call for fair heat deal

Over twenty businesses, energy suppliers, green and anti-poverty groups (including the End Fuel Poverty Coalition) have called for the Government to back a Fair Heat Deal to make the transition away from fossil fuel boilers attractive, easy, and fair for all.

The groups want the Government to ensure it is affordable for every household to install and run a heat pump. This would help households benefit from cheaper energy bills and warmer, healthier homes, while slashing carbon emissions.

Buildings in the UK are responsible for nearly a quarter of climate emissions. Moving away from polluting fossil fuel boilers is necessary to decarbonise Britain’s buildings and to get on track to net-zero.

The UK’s scientific advisors, the Climate Change Committee, say heat pumps will play the largest role in decarbonising Britain’s heat supply. Air source heat pumps work like fridges in reverse, extracting the warmth in the air outside and compressing it to heat the building inside.

The Fair Heat Deal would stimulate the heat pump market, helping to accelerate a reduction in technology and installation costs as economies of scale are achieved. This means the costs of subsidising the programme could rapidly fall over time.

By boosting economic activity, the Fair Heat Deal could generate as much growth as any infrastructure programme but would have the extra benefits of creating good jobs in every part of the UK while slashing energy bills. The UK has a world-leading heat appliance manufacturing industry. This means accelerating the deployment of heat pumps could create a massive inward investment and global export opportunity as other countries look to decarbonise heat.

The groups urged Government to provide comprehensive support for households moving to heat pumps. The Fair Heat Deal would include:

  • Moving environmental levies off electricity bills to ensure it is always cheaper to run a heat pump than a boiler.
  • Free heat pumps and insulation for fuel poor and low-income households.
  • Grants for everyone else to equalise the cost of a new heat pump with a fossil gas boiler.
  • Financial incentives including zero VAT on green home products and installation and green Stamp Duty to reduce the cost of low carbon homes.
  • Strong consumer protections.
  • A Warm Homes Agency to train installers, create quality green jobs in every part of the country and maintain high standards.

Juliet Phillips, Senior Policy Advisor at E3G said:

Moving from a gas boiler to a heat pump is one of the biggest carbon savings a household can make to fight climate change. But it must be affordable and we urge the Government to support our Fair Heat Deal to ensure no one is left behind in the green industrial revolution. If done right the UK can lead the world in reducing carbon emissions from heat while slashing energy bills, boosting the economy and protecting the fuel poor.

Energy Saving Trust CEO Mike Thornton

With the climate emergency upon us, there is no time to waste and we need to take positive action. We have to make our homes more energy efficient and move away from reliance on fossil fuels for heating. Heat pumps are an important low carbon heating technology that will help us meet net zero. A Fair Heat Deal will make heat pumps more attractive to householders and help them to switch over to low carbon heating. For the UK to reach its net zero targets, we need real pace and scale in rolling out heat pumps. A Fair Heat Deal will provide the confidence, clarity and certainty which will unlock the investment required for this.

Signatories to the Fair Heat Deal

CPRE-The Countryside Charity, End Fuel Poverty Coalition, E.ON, E3G, Federation of Master Builders, Energy Saving Trust, Energy UK, Friends of the Earth, Good Energy, Green Alliance, Green Finance Institute, Greenpeace UK, Heat Pump Federation, Kensa Contracting, MCS Foundation, New Economics Foundation, OVO, Possible, The Association for Decentralised Energy, UK Green Buildings Council, WWF.

Image: Flickr