The Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho has been warned by MPs that heat pumps are currently too costly for many households. The Telegraphhas more.
The Government must urgently make low-carbon heating systems cheaper if it wants to reach its goal of Net Zero emissions by 2050, according to a report by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).
Almost all of the U.K.’s 28 million households must ditch their gas boilers and decarbonise their heating systems for ministers to achieve their goal of Net Zero emissions.
Nearly a fifth (18%) of all U.K. greenhouse gas emissions come from heating the nation’s homes, the vast bulk of it from burning natural gas.
The Government wants to phase out gas boilers by 2035 and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has a target for Britain to be installing 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, up from just 55,000 in 2021.
But high costs for households mean uptake has so far been slow and the Government is not on track to meet this target.
The PAC report said: “The cost of buying and running heat pumps is a substantial barrier to take-up for most households, at a time when incomes are already stretched.”
An average heat pump costs £11,600, four times more than a gas boiler.
The Government aims to reduce heat pump installation costs by 25% by 2025, but so far they have only fallen by 6% since 2021.
The PAC report said: “Costs need to come down much quicker.”
Heat pumps are also more expensive to run than traditional boilers because they use electricity, which costs more than gas, the report said.
The costs are so high that Government grants are likely only being used by rich people.
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