The Heat Pump Challenge

Heat pumps have received much media attention of late, not all good. Held up by the UK government as a beacon of decarbonisation, this green technology is certainly causing a heated debate.

With net zero by 2050 looming on the horizon, the government is keen for us to switch from our carbon-emitting heating systems to low-carbon alternatives such as heat pumps. In the Ten Point Plan for a Green Industrial Revolution in 2020, the government set a target to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028. However, considering that there are 28.4 million households in the UK, this is not an overly ambitious target and we don’t even look like we’ll achieve that with only 55,000 heat pumps installed in 2022.

While heat-pump installation in the UK is decidedly slow, in the rest of Europe it’s hotting up. France is in the lead with more than 620,000 heat pumps installed in 2022, according to a report published by the MCS Charitable Foundation entitled Heat Pump Rollout in France and the UK: A Comparative Analysis.

The European Heat Pump Association has also reported that the European heat-pump market set a new record in 2022 with more than three million units sold. The total number of heat pumps in Europe now stands at 20 million. 

There are a variety of complex and interlinking barriers preventing widespread rollout of heat pumps in the UK. From the home owner’s point of view, it’s the upfront cost and perceived upheaval involved in an installation. Even with the government’s £450m boiler upgrade scheme, in which home owners can receive grants of £5,000 for an installation, with heat pumps costing in the region of £10,000 to £20,000 home owners still need to dig deep into their own pockets to cover the cost. 

In the UK, we have a well-established gas grid. Since the 1960s and 70s our gas boilers have ensured our homes are kept toasty and our showers hot. As a technology they do the job well but they emit carbon. On the other hand, heat pumps don’t emit carbon, are more efficient and are cheaper to run. But any new technology brings with it scepticism and apprehensions, further fuelled by myths circulating in the press and a lack of understanding of how it works.

“I have done hundreds of exhibitions over the years, and it is a definite perception from home owners that a heat pump is some sort of magical box of tricks,” said Chris Higgs, managing director of Freedom Heat Pumps.

“But there's nothing overly complicated or magical about it, it is just the vapour compression cycle and it works in exactly the same way as your fridge or air-conditioning unit, but in reverse. With a heat pump all we're doing is taking the energy from the garden, whether it's ground or air source, and bringing it through the house’s pipework and radiators to warm it.”

While it is a highly efficient technology, it does require the home owner to give their house over to the installer, who often has to rip out the old heating system completely, to install the heat pump outside along with all new radiators, pipework, and, in many cases, a hot cylinder tank.

Together with cost, this predicted disruption is also a barrier for many. However, Pete Crowley, director of Class Renewables, an installation and service company based in Yorkshire, questions whether it is the upheaval it’s often made out to be.

“For a heat-pump installation in a standard property we rarely quote above £10,000. And yes, for a full system there may be two or three installers working in most areas of the house for a couple of days but, realistically, is that a massive disruption? I disagree with the media driven view in the consumer’s voice that it’s the huge upheaval it’s made out to be,” he said.

While £10,000 is still a substantial upfront cost, there are installers who will charge far more than that. Over time, economies of supply and demand mean that prices will fall but for now Crowley suggests that home owners challenge the installer on price and don’t just accept the quote given.

Crowley said: “From my point of view, there’s a huge over-complication in how heat pumps are designed and all the equipment obviously costs a lot. There also doesn’t need to be these layers of luxury that are often added. A heat-pump installation is not rocket science, it’s just a change of heat source. We're still supplying radiators, underfloor heating and hot water, so why do we need to add layers of complexity? This questioning from the consumer will change the perspective of the heat-pump industry.”

But consumers need to be properly informed. In France the government launched a centralised resource to provide free and independent advice for consumers, but there is no such resource available in the UK. It’s down to the home owner to do their own research and contact installers for comparative quotes.

But this is another barrier for heat-pump installation as it’s often difficult to get a range of quotes when there aren’t the installers available. According to the MCS report, France’s established heat-pump industry was worth €5.3bn in 2019 and supported 32,000 jobs. In the same year in the UK, the industry supported just 2,000 full-time jobs, and with only 55,000 installations a year it is still considered a 'cottage industry’.

To bolster this amount it makes sense for a gas-boiler technician, of which there are more than 130,000 in the UK, to transition to becoming a heat-pump technician, but it’s not quite as simple as that. The reason is that there is a certification process involved. The MCS Service Company is the only standards organisation that offers certification for heat-pump design, installation and products. As well as the need to be MCS-registered, there are many building regulations that also have to be understood and adhered to, as a heat-pump installation potentially involves substantial works.

Crowley said: “The biggest barrier is engineer uptake. The MCS certification and the standard building regulations, which come with extensive regulatory challenges, is very complex. I know people in the heating industry who have very little interest in transitioning over to becoming a heat-pump installer because of the compliance requirements.

“In my view, these regulations need reform. Many standards are out of date and overly complex for what is essentially a plumbing job. Any installer could install a heat pump, the fundamental challenge is the regulatory compliance they need to go through.”

The added challenge is training. There aren’t many places to turn to if you want to become a well-skilled heat-pump installer. With no apprenticeships or college courses, many turn to YouTube and what they can find online.

Realising this, Heat Geek, which was originally set up in 2016 by Adam Chapman as a YouTube channel to spread knowledge of the heating industry, now provides a range of digital training courses. These comprehensive courses and rigorous verification process, of which Crowley is an advocate, are helping some way in upskilling would-be heat-pump installers.

But even with a boost in the number of installers, there is still the matter of cost for the home owner. A home owner keen to tread a greener path and invest in sustainable technologies finds the high costs are blocking progress.

“Many home owners don’t have the savings to spend on a heat pump. Even if they wanted to, they can’t afford it. I think the government needs to offer consumers some sort of funding model,” said Higgs.

Although there is a £5,000 funding scheme in place, MCS is calling for stronger government intervention and clarity to help reach the target of 600,000 heat pumps installed by 2028. As the MCS report states, “The UK can be a global leader on clean heating but this requires long-term policies to drive consumer demand and supply-chain expansion.”

Some of the key policy recommendations include banning the installation of fossil-fuel heating systems in all new homes, introducing government supported low-interest loan schemes for home owners, supporting the development of a highly skilled and diverse heat-pump workforce, and launching an awareness campaign to help educate and inform the public about the technology and the incentives on offer.

Higgs said: “Despite all the barriers and bottlenecks, our enquiry level for heat pumps is higher than it’s ever been. While there is some negativity there is also a lot of positivity, and I would like to see it gain even more traction and really get the momentum going.”