(Bloomberg) -- The UK is ramping up support for electric heat pumps, a key technology to cut the country’s dependence on natural gas to keep homes warm during winter.
A package of measures announced by the government includes eliminating the so-called one meter rule that required heat pumps be installed more than a meter from a property’s boundary, which meant many potential buyers of the equipment had to apply for planning permission from local authorities. That shift could stimulate demand from those who currently want one, but are turned away or delayed by onerous regulations.
“More than a third of customers who order a heat pump drop out because of planning issues, leaving them stuck with dirty, inefficient gas boilers,” Greg Jackson, chief executive officer of Octopus Energy, said in a statement. “Removing outdated and unnecessary red tape is an urgent priority to grow this sector and get low cost, safe, clean heating technology into British homes.”
The UK also said it will increase funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers government grants of as much as £7,500 ($9,490) to people who want to replace their gas boiler with a heat pump.
Heat pumps are crucial to government plans to cut fossil fuels from the UK’s home heating system. But that shift has been held back by high costs to install the technology.
Heat pumps cost on average £12,500 to install in the UK, according to a report by the National Audit Office. Even after the subsidy, that’s still more expensive than a new gas boiler. And because electricity is more expensive than gas, heat pumps can also be more expensive to run, according to the NAO report.
While the measures were welcomed by much of the energy industry, the government faces key decisions in the Spring over how much to fund the technology in the long term.
“To help the majority of families get a heat pump, the government needs to increase funding in the Spring Spending Review and take high charges off electricity bills - recovering costs fairly through general taxation instead,” said Chris Galpin, policy advisor at climate think tank E3G. “Making heat pumps more affordable would spark massive growth in the heat pump industry, give millions of working people the chance to lower their energy bills and reduce our reliance on expensive, foreign gas imports.”
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