The take up of heat pumps is too slow, and risks jeopardising Government climate targets.
The National Audit Office (NAO) has criticised the Government’s progress on decarbonising home heating, but the fact remains that heat pumps are currently not universally loved by UK homeowners.

In part a victim of the EU era market correction mechanism, policy indecision, and concerns over their noise, vibration and expense, they are also victim to being too little known. Despite higher targets, around 55,000 heat pumps were sold in the UK in 2022, a significant rise, but well behind the curve of where they ‘need’ to be, an estimated 600,000 by 2028.

Jess Ralston, energy analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) said: “The NAO detail a sorry saga of the Government’s efforts, or rather lack of them, in moving households to clean heating.”

“These all have consequences; heat pump uptake is slow, uncertainty is hampering investment, and our energy independence as a country is weaker as we'll have to import more gas as the North Sea continues its decline. Citizen's Advice say scrapping the Clean Heat Market Mechanism would ‘hurt’ households by leaving them vulnerable to volatile international gas prices.”

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