Grants for heat pumps have been increased from £5,000 to £7,500 in an effort to accelerate the UK’s faltering progress on decarbonising domestic heating.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme should make it cheaper for most households to install heat pumps than gas boilers, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said. The scheme has also been extended by three years to 2028, giving people more time to take advantage.
A heat pump takes heat at a low temperature from the air or ground and increases it to a higher temperature before transferring the heat into homes for heating and hot water. The technology is significantly more efficient than traditional boilers and, unlike gas boilers, can be run on clean electricity rather than fossil fuels.
The UK needs to retrofit around two houses per minute between now and 2035 to meet the government’s targets on energy efficiency.
Last year, research from Wunderflats ranked the UK near the bottom of 28 European nations for having the coldest, oldest and leakiest housing stock. A recent analysis found that domestic gas use in the UK would have been significantly lower last winter if heat pump installations had kept pace with the rest of Europe.
The government also announced £10m in grants through the Heat Pump Ready programme to support innovation in the industry and help cut installation costs.
Energy security secretary Claire Coutinho said: “No one should have to choose between cutting costs and cutting emissions – our pragmatic approach means we can continue to deliver on our ambitious net zero targets without unfairly hitting the pockets of hard-working families.
“From today, for some households, starting prices for heat pumps could now be below the average gas boiler, as we have increased the cash grant by 50 per cent to £7,500 – making our scheme one of the most generous in Europe.
“This will help thousands of people across the country reduce their energy use and keep their homes warm.”
Households wanting to take advantage of the scheme need to agree a quote for the work with an MCS-certified installer, who will then do all the paperwork. Ofgem will contact the customer after that to confirm they would like to proceed.
As well as increasing the air-source heat pump grant, ground-source heat pump grants have risen from £6,000 to £7,500, and households can also have access to £5,000 grants for biomass boilers.
In January, the government’s net zero review concluded that no new homes should be built with a gas boiler from 2025. It also proposed a 10-year plan to ensure heat pumps become more widespread throughout the UK.
Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced delays to various net zero policies, citing the cost-of-living crisis. This included changing the pledge to phase out all gas boilers by 2035 to just 80 per cent of them.
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