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The Heat Pump Federation and its members are delighted that the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Select Committee supports the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) and finds that significant changes must be swiftly made to give the heat pump industry the opportunity to deliver on the original policy intent.
Bean Beanland, the HPF’s Director of Growth & External Affairs said: “The BUS is the current cornerstone of government policy to decarbonise domestic heating. Heat pump take-up across the country is increasing, as is industry investment, but the BUS’s first year of operation has been challenging for all the reasons outlined by the Lords Committee.”
“The Committee’s findings chime precisely with what heat pump installers and consumers are telling us. In particular, homeowners and landlords need better information on heat pump technologies that are available now, and this needs to be underpinned by an EPC framework that appropriately recognises the benefits of heat pump systems.”
“Given the disjointed launch of the scheme and the urgency needed to mitigate against climate change it is completely inappropriate for HM Treasury to claw back any underspend. Rather, the unspent funds should be used to extend the scheme in year two and to increase support for ground-source deployment to match the demand proven under the previous Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive.”
“Implementation of these scheme improvements, together with early action on the fair pricing of increasingly low carbon electricity and the removal of outdated planning barriers, will encourage the heat pump industry to accelerate investment in skill sets and in the supply chain, in readiness for future growth driven by the Future Homes Standard in 2025 and the consulted on bans on replacement fossil fuel boilers off the gas grid in 2026.”
It is in everyone’s interest to ensure that the UK lands on the best combination of policy levers and financial instruments so that heat pumps can help deliver the country’s Net Zero ambitions.
