It may come as a surprise to the most dedicated eco warriors that heat pumps don’t last forever. Those installing them now are in for a nasty shock 15–20 years down the line when their costly noisy power-hungry government-subsidised outdoor heat exchangers come to the end of their lives and need replacing. There won’t be any grants or subsidies around then.
According to the Telegraph some of the early birds are already suffering from buyer’s remorse:
Peter and Anne Watts made headlines when they became one of around four British households to have an air-source heat pump fitted in 2008.
That Mr and Mrs Watts, 88 and 82 respectively, had installed a heat pump a decade before the likes of Boris Johnson seized upon them as the future of home heating was highly unusual.
“We had a reporter up from the local paper asking us about our solar panels and our heat pump,” recalls Mr Watts. “In the days afterwards, we got a call from the BBC – I thought it was a prank call from the neighbours.”
Yet 17 years on, the pump is nearing the end of its lifespan – and the price tag for a replacement is £17,000, around £10,000 more than they paid for their original.
Mr and Mrs Watts are in a highly unique quandary – one that shines a light on the shortcomings of the Government’s heat pump drive.Households currently benefit from a £7,500 grant to install a new pump, thanks to the generous Boiler Upgrade Scheme run by the energy department. But no such generosity exists for early adopters whose systems are now nearing their end.
It begs the question: how do households – who relied on low prices or government grants to get their heat pump fitted the first time around – afford its replacement?
Unfortunately, Mr and Mrs Watts can’t retrofit a gas boiler because a) they’re not on the gas grid and b) because the house was expensively renovated with the installation of a heat pump in mind. Now it seems they haven’t the cash for a new heat pump. That’s an interesting development since it’s often the well-heeled retired who have the resources and time to fit a heat pump in the first place. Unfortunately, if they live long enough their dwindling incomes turn the ageing heat pumps into a time bomb:
The couple, who ran a business selling animal feed and now live off a private pension, cannot afford a new heat pump. They have already stripped back on holidays since electricity prices first rose.
It is a problem that the pair, who live in a four-bedroom detached house in Buckinghamshire, did not foresee when they became one of the first British households to have an air-source heat pump installed.
Back when they installed the pump the whole idea was to future-proof their bills by investing in more efficient and cheaper-to-run equipment. Moreover, there were no grants back then though they did enjoy an advantageous scheme of selling the power they generated from solar panels back to the grid. Mr and Mrs Watts make around £900 per annum that way.
However, the cost of electricity has soared and heat pumps use so much it’s difficult for a domestic solar panel system to do more than make a dent in the running costs:
Almost two decades later, Mr Watts is doubtful the switch saved him much money, because in more recent years, so-called all-electric houses like his have been hamstrung by high electricity rates. “We don’t save a lot relative to oil and gas, but I would still recommend any house with a heat pump also gets solar panels,” he says.
Since they have no choice but to replace their heat pump or wait in trepidation for their existing one to break down, Mr and Mrs Watts are hoping their early loyalty will make it possible to obtain a discounted replacement:
After being approached by the Telegraph, a spokesman for the company said: “We value Mr Watts’ loyalty and appreciate his contribution to promoting heat pumps. If Mr Watts wishes to upgrade his system, Daikin has offered to supply a discounted heat pump.”
A Government spokesman said: “Heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers, enabling families to save around £100 a year by using a smart tariff.”
£100 a year. If Mr and Mrs Watts can get a discounted heat pump for, say, £10,000 (a very optimistic prospect) they should be able to recover the replacement costs in only 100 years when both are over 180. Except by then they’d have had to replace the new heat pump at least five times.
It’s highly unlikely anyone currently buying a heat pump will find their installers lining up to offer them a discounted replacement in the 2040s, having been prompted by the Telegraph to do so.
With VAT imminent on heat pumps, the government has some solutions up its sleeve. One of them is to lock householders into debt to pay for them. The Government spokesman went on:
There is zero VAT on heat pumps until March 2027. Overall installation costs are coming down and will continue to do so for all consumers as the market develops. We are also exploring private finance options, such as loans, to support homeowners with the upfront costs of heat pumps.
It can be safely assumed that the cost of servicing those loans will exceed the nominal savings from a heat pump of £100 a year. Presumably, the loans will run the risk of still being paid off when the heat pump needs replacing, necessitating further loans for a new one.
One day there may be millions of pensioners living in houses with failing or failed heat pumps that they cannot possibly afford either to run or replace or obtain loans to do either.
Worth reading in full.
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Good work, gve that man an award.
I suspect he was on the tax payer teet before the last election.
The stabbing of three girls in Southport last July. Is that all it was, really?
Not the brutal murder of 3 young innocent children?
It’s almost like they are trying to erase this truly horrific event.
Its an outrage!
The Telegraph journalist may not have intended to downplay the significance and seriousness of this horrific event, but the seemingly casual glossing over of those awful murders seems to suggest it was an insignificant event.
I truly feel for the parents of those children, its almost like society has forgotten about their tragic loss. Or is being forced to forget!
Well I’ll be closely watching proceedings and anything being reported online 20th Jan> regarding the mass child-killer because I couldn’t give a toss about a U.S President’s inauguration, which is only a one day event anyway. These trials will last weeks. Plus it’s the trial of that other migrant who stabbed the soldier and that Labour councilor’s trial too.
Just another migrant killing another white person here. How many’s that now? Aren’t there any white on white killings any more? It doesn’t feel like it. God knows how many of these happen daily and we’re not aware of them. The culprit won’t be deported because ‘human rights’;
”A man has been charged with murder following a fatal stabbing in Luton.
Abdul Kasim, 25, was charged on Monday with the murder of 63-year-old Martin Sullivan, who died after being injured at an address in Highbury Road.
Mr Sullivan was pronounced dead shortly after being taken to hospital by emergency services.
His daughter paid tribute to him, saying: “My dad was a very loving and caring person who would help anyone.
“He will be very much missed by all his friends and family.
“He’ll never be forgotten.”
Kasim, of Perrysfield Road, Cheshunt, Waltham Cross, Hertfordshire, has been remanded into custody ahead of a hearing at Luton Crown Court on Thursday.”
https://www.itv.com/news/anglia/2025-01-14/man-charged-with-murder-as-daughter-pays-tribute-to-loving-stab-victim
I’m not suggesting the brutal murders of Jo Cox and David Amess (MPs) are any less serious than any other murder, but we don’t try and eliminate their murders from collective memory!
How has the Country become a nation, via its government, who seems to not care about what happens to children, and seemingly specifically white girls?
I logged back in to say something similar but you beat me to it.
No. Eleven girls and two adults were stabbed. Three of the children were stabbed to death.Murdered.
And when people complain on social media they’re the bad guys?
Lord Hermer is evil. Sack him.
And what about all the other 8 little girls and their two adult defenders, who were all hospitalised in critical condition, some with “life-changing injuries”? They must feel entirely forgotten by the world.
Starmer is completely inept and has no political nouce. He is a legalistic automaton, devoid of common sense. He is a rules based robot, who prefers bad outcomes, so long as they are legal outcomes. Yet, as has been shown, the advice he has received over the Chagos islands, is wrong.
Starmer is stuck in an error loop, and he doesn’t know how to get out of it. He needs to be re-booted and re-programed.
Or replaced – by an actual functioning robot?
Hahaha! Good idea!
It could hardly do a worse job then Two Tier Not Here Again Kier.
Clueless, again, from Will Jones.
‘… many of these bizarre decisions …’?
Deliberate, premeditated, planned, and all intended to tear down, harm, spoil the fabric of the UK.
Why does Jones think Starmer wants to be popular with those Labour hates? Just follow the Democrat playbook and their next steps are blindingly obvious.
By focusing his guns on the wrong target, Jones wastes time and opportunity to fight Labour.
May I encourage fellow blogees to be more discerning.
Starmer seems to want Labour to be even worse than the Democrats under Biden, seems like its working already!
Total destruction of everything worthwhile.
What a surprise, early life check comfirmed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Hermer,_Baron_Hermer#Early_life,_family_and_education
NO! Will Jones is very far from being “clueless”— your comment is unjust and stupid.
Why don’t you set up your own website and show us all how much better you can do it?
Excellent documentary brought to my attention by UK Column. Slaughtered on Suspicion about the 2001 Foot & Mouth mass cull that is thought to have culled 11 million animals and around 80% of the farms were free of the disease, but were culled anyway. I played a part disinfecting and, at the time, thought it of a 1940 moment. I had no internet then. I also remember clubbing in Hereford and having to close my window when driving home through the Herefordshire countryside because of the stench of the burning carcases.
https://www.ukcolumn.org/video/insight-slaughtered-on-suspicion
I have posted links to this excellent documentary a few times but it is always worth repeating.
And guess who was behind the flawed model used to slaughter innocent animals.
That would be Ferguson pants down. Also goes to show what a criminal Blair was before the WMDs PsyOp.
Sir Two-Tier aided and abetted by Lord Hermetic. Knight and Peer of the Realm complicit in lawyerly insider trading. Someone pass the nosegay and smelling salts asap, the parliamentary drains are up to mischief again.
Well done to Will Jones and the DS for drawing attention to this Extreme Leftist man Two Tier chose as Attorney General, who has just committed “Gross Judicial Overreach” by warning the entire world that they are subject to the same rules as jurors on the case of the Southport Stabber!!! It reminds me of the Marxist Common Purpose motto “Go Beyond Authority”. He has actually threatened ALL SOCIAL MEDIA USERS with CONTEMPT OF COURT charges !!! Who the blazes does he think he is?
Warning issued about commenting on trial of alleged Southport attacker
“It said: “While proceedings are active, the Attorney General is reminding editors, publishers and SOCIAL MEDIA USERS that fair and accurate reporting of legal proceedings held in public in good faith is permitted”.
“However, you may be at risk of being in contempt of court if you publish material or comment online that is inaccurate, unfair or involves discussion or commentary which could influence the jury’s deliberations.” WHAT??????
Some apt comments from the public:
— “I think the attorney General has gone a bit to far in their suppression of freedom of speech when they said “unfair or involves discussion or commentary which could influence the jury’s deliberations”.
I think the Attorney General needs to refresh themselves with The Juries Act 1974 and subsequent case law establish strict rules for jury conduct.
Its not for the public to be held accountable to these rules its for the Jury to be held accountable to these rules.”
— “If you don’t want the Jury to be swayed you put the few up in a hotel without access to the news and the like, and the many can have the freedom of speech granted to us without fear of reprisal. The Constitution is the corner stone of Law.”
— “I maybe terribly wrong, but I always thought, certainly in my day. A JURY remained in a hotel away from the public during a murder case, with no access to the outside world.?? I have never known such a strong statement to have ever been made like this before. Especially having lived through some of the most infamous murders of the 20th century.”
—“Judge needs to wind his neck in. He controls his court room, not the country.”
Disgusting.
I expect his fees are paid by tax payers?
Two-Tier isn’t a politician. He’s a Human Rights Lawyer. This is the manifestation of Mandelson’s “the age of democracy is over” and Blair’s Constitutional Wrecking Ball.
We’ll get one last chance to overturn the imposition of governance by Human Rights Lawyers at the next General Election.
We’d better take it. Whether you support everything Reform proposes is irrelevant …. first we need to restore democracy.
Then we need to start arguing about what we do with it.
Presumably consent has been given. Its a case of wrecking themselves. They are a wreck.
Some of you may remember the Monty Python sketch, ‘Philosopher’s Football Match’, from the early 1970s. All the philosophers on the pitch are so self absorbed and tied in knots with ‘logical’ reasoning that they fail to understand that the point of the game is to score a goal. Eventually, one of the players has a ‘Eureka’ moment and scores but the other argue that it has not really happened. Worth watching again, as it is readily available online. It is a good allegory for Britain today.