London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Jul 26, 2025

Heat pumps: Lords slam 'failing' green heating scheme

Heat pumps: Lords slam 'failing' green heating scheme

The government's flagship green heating scheme has been described as "seriously failing" by a Lords inquiry.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme grants households £5,000 to help switch from a gas boiler to a low-carbon heat pump.

On Wednesday, the Lords Net Zero Committee said grant take-up is so low the national target for green heating is "very unlikely to be met".

The government responded by saying it would launch a marketing campaign to make people more aware of the scheme.

Heating in UK homes produces nearly 17% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions, which are responsible for climate change.

To meet the UK's climate change targets, the government wants to install 600,000 low-carbon heat pumps annually within five years - currently only 50,000 are installed annually.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme was meant to kick-start the heat pump industry in England and Wales, and reduce the cost of installation for homeowners.

But in her letter to the government, Baroness Parminter, chair of the Lords Committee, heavily criticised ministers for not doing more to raise awareness of the scheme - which is on track to issue just half of the allocated grants.

She told the BBC: "The scheme isn't working as well as it needs to. It is absolutely critical that the government boosts public awareness... we need to give people the confidence to know about why these changes are important."

Heat pumps use electricity to run and are three times more efficient than a gas boiler, so as we switch to renewable electricity homes will be cheaper to heat and produce less emissions.

Anthony Hibbs got a heat pump installed in his new-build home in Newcastle-under-Lyme through the scheme last year. He told the BBC his new heating system was "absolutely brilliant".

But he said finding information on installers and the scheme was difficult: "I had to look online and do a lot of research. It wasn't easy at first and I have never seen the scheme advertised as such."

The government's own research from Autumn 2022 shows 80% of people in the UK did not know what a heat pump was, let alone were aware of the scheme.

Anthony Hibbs said the Boiler Upgrade Scheme made a heat pump affordable for his family

A government spokesperson told the BBC: "We've recently launched a marketing campaign to further increase public awareness and will consider options to ensure our targets are met."

John Taylor, 71, another recipient of the BUS voucher, also said the government needed to make it clearer which installers to use: "I searched online and found cowboys out there. There is not a lot of guidance leading you to decent people - you are on your own."

There are an estimated 3,000 heat pump installers in the UK compared to 130,000 registered gas heating engineers.

The committee said the government is funding some training places for installers but needed to give more certainty to engineers that it is worth investing their time in getting retrained.

The problems with the scheme are reminiscent of the government's previous Green Homes Grant which was meant to support households with energy efficiency measures like insulation, but was scrapped after less than a year in 2021 for lack of installers.

But Rebecca Dibb-Simkin, Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Octopus Energy, which was praised by the Committee for its investment in heat pump design and training, said the scheme had boosted confidence in the industry and Octopus Energy has 50,000 people on its waiting list for a heat pump.

She said: "Government and business need to work together on this, we hope the grant will continue.

"We know we can generate demand, and the grant would help people with the cost… it's kind of a perfect relationship."

The committee has said that for lower- and middle-income households the grant is not enough, and they are being put off by the higher upfront costs of installing a heat pump compared to a gas boiler.

Even with the grant, Mr Taylor and Mr Hibbs spent £8,500 and £6,000 respectively on their heat pumps.

Stew Horne, head of policy at The Energy Savings Trust told the BBC: "That upfront cost is a real issue, and policy has to focus on addressing that... through grants or low-cost loans or through green finance."

He said that model was not new and was already being used in Scotland, where they also offer a free energy advice service to help households navigate installing a new heating system.

Countries like France and Germany have also pledged twice as much money to their low carbon heating schemes and offer larger grants for low-income households up to £9,700 to make heat pumps more affordable.

In her letter to government Baroness Parminter said additional support and funding needed to be offered to households, similar to the schemes in France


The Lords Committee for Environment and Climate Change said the government needed to expand the programme to match this scale and also guarantee that the unspent funding from Year 1 of the BUS - which they estimate at about £75m - would roll over to subsequent years.

The government declined to comment on what would happen to this unspent funding.

Baroness Parminter told the BBC she had made it very clear to government: "They have got to get that money back. It is not going to be acceptable if the underspend in the first year somehow disappears back to the treasury. The money was set aside for a good purpose."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
×