The Energy & Utilities Alliance (EUA), whose members range from British Gas to the Builders Merchants Federation, has slammed the government鈥檚 Heat and Building Strategy unveiled last October, which includes a commitment to a mass rollout of heat pumps in British homes instead of gas boilers.
EUA chief executive Mike Foster dismissed the heat pump plan as 鈥渁 middle class bung鈥� from a government out of touch with the public. He said the strategy was 鈥渘ow dead in the water鈥�.
He said: 鈥淭o continue to have a policy that asks people in the middle of an energy crisis to fit a heat pump costing as much as 拢10,000 is frankly perverse. The government needs to urgently come up with a credible domestic heating strategy that gives us a roadmap to heat our homes and deliver net zero.鈥�
The government is currently subsidising a first wave of 90,000 heat pumps 鈥� under its Boiler Upgrade Scheme 鈥� with a taxpayer subsidy of 拢5,000 per installation, making a total cost of 拢450m.
Foster said that the subsidy still left households trying to find the shortfall. 鈥淐onsumers can鈥檛 afford heat pumps; they can鈥檛 afford to retrofit their homes with energy efficiency measures; they can鈥檛 afford new radiators or to pay for a hot water cylinder to be installed. Put bluntly, most can鈥檛 afford to pay the bills soon coming their way with price cap increases. They have no savings and yet the government鈥檚 strategy is still to ask them to fit a heat pump they won鈥檛 be able to afford.鈥�
He continued: 鈥淲e also need to whether subsidising heat pump installations is the best use of taxpayer鈥檚 cash. The subsidy would be more effective if targeted towards energy efficiency measures in the home, reducing bills for Brits reportedly already in debt on average 拢206 to profiting energy companies.鈥�
He cited data from the Energy Savings Trust that indicates 拢450m could provide 849,000 lofts with insulation, saving households 拢216.5m a year on bills, while reducing carbon emissions by 509,400 tonnes. If used to fit cavity wall insulation, 375,000 homes would benefit, saving 拢106.9m a year on bills and reducing carbon emissions by 251,250 tonnes.
Foster concluded: 鈥淲e are in the middle of a cost of living crisis; bills are soaring and consumers hurting. Is now the time for taxpayers to pay a middle-class bung to fit a heat pump, when there are better ways of reducing bills for more people and cutting greater levels of carbon?
鈥淲e know Whitehall officials are worried it is failing. The total scheme, over three years, amounts to 拢450m subsidising 90,000 heat pumps. That same amount means nearly one million homes could get free insulation, cutting bills by nearly 拢220m a year. Surely that鈥檚 the greater prize in these difficult times?鈥�
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