Evidence for heat-pump price drop fails to add up

The Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) has analysed the French heat pump market where installations average £11,000, a figure similar to installing a heat pump in the UK.

EUA point out that in 2021, 537,000 heat pumps were sold in France compared to 50,000 units in the UK, suggesting that higher volumes do not reduce costs and presents a challenge to current UK policy.

In Britain, the average heat pump costs around £10,000 to install compared to a combi-boiler replacement of £1500. The Heat and Building Strategy, published in October 2021 suggests that increasing volumes of UK heat pump installations will bring costs down.

Mike Foster, EUA chief executive, believes this new evidence renders UK heat decarbonisation plans “useless” and calls for a government re-set.

“The French have blown a hole in UK government policy,” Foster said in a statement. “Their experience shows that higher volumes of heat pump sales does not massively reduce their cost. The forecasted reductions, claimed by BEIS, are simply numbers plucked from thin air. Just across the channel we have real word experience, 537,000 heat pumps fitted last year, at a similar cost to that experienced in the UK, with our 50,000 sales.”