New grants of £5,000 will be available from April next year to encourage homeowners to install more efficient, low carbon heating systems – like heat pumps – through a new £450 million 3-year Boiler Upgrade Scheme. The grants mean the cost to install a heat pump will be similar to installing a traditional gas boiler.
HPA chair, Phil Hurley, welcomed the announcement saying: “The heat pump industry warmly welcomes these bold steps forward. The industry is in the best shape it has ever been, with sales this year already double those seen ever before.
“This announcement is timed perfectly to take advantage of the Heat Pump Association’s recently-launched training course, with the industry now ready to retrain the UK’s army of installers with the capacity to train up to 40,000 per year.
Huge confidence boost for the industry
“Today’s announcement will give industry and installers a huge confidence boost that now is the time to scale-up and retrain in preparation for the mass roll out of heat pumps,” Phil commented. “As well as making heat pumps as affordable as boilers, so all consumers can soon access and enjoy the benefits of affordable, reliable low carbon heating that stands the test of time.”
In a similarly positive response Laura Bishop, chair of the GSHPA, said: “The Ground Source Heat Pump Association warmly welcomes the release of the Heat and Buildings Strategy. We look forward to a consistent policy environment which will drive growth in our sector and the UK economy on the path towards achieving Net Zero.
“Ground source heat pumps represent a long-term infrastructure asset which delivers unrivalled efficiencies in generating clean heat, and we hope the policy will underpin the mass market roll out we have been anticipating for some time.”
The funding supports government’s confirmed ambition for all new heating systems installed in UK homes from 2035 to be low carbon significantly reducing the UK’s dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes, whilst supporting up to 240,000 jobs by 2035.
A fair transition
Whilst the installation of fossil heating systems is likely to be banned from 2035, no-one will be forced to remove existing boilers, with the transition over the next 14 years seeing the UK’s households choosing to move away from fossil fuel boilers in an affordable, practical and fair way.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said: “As we clean up the way we heat our homes over the next decade, we are backing our brilliant innovators to make clean technology like heat pumps as cheap to buy and run as gas boilers – supporting thousands of green jobs.
“Our new grants will help homeowners make the switch sooner, without costing them extra, so that going green is the better choice when their boiler needs an upgrade. Heat pump technology will play a key role in all scenarios, so for those who want to install them now, we are supporting them to do so.”
Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy, said: “This Heat and Buildings Strategy will help kick-start a cheap clean heating revolution, by bringing prices down for households and allowing companies to invest in scaling up their clean heating operations. When the new scheme launches in April, Octopus Energy will install heat pumps for about the same cost as gas boilers.
“To help grow the electric heat pump market and expand British manufacturing, a new £60 million Heat Pump Ready innovation programme is being announced, part of the £1 billion Net Zero Innovation Portfolio. The scheme will provide funding to drive technological innovation which will make the systems smaller, easier to install and cheaper to run over the coming years.
“Kick-starting Britain’s new heat pump industry is expected to protect and create tens of thousands of new jobs in research and development, production, supply chain and installation over the next decade.”