Give free heat pumps to poorer households, consortium says

The group, which includes major energy companies and trade associations, proposes a ‘Fair Heat Deal’ to make clean heating affordable to all

Free heat pumps and insulation should be given to low-income households.

That’s one of the measures that should be implemented as part of a so-called Fair Heat Deal that the government needs to consider, a consortium of leading companies and organisations suggests.

The call has been signed off by organisations including the Energy Saving Trust, Energy UK, E.ON, OVO Energy, Good Energy, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace, WWF and E3G.

The group says the government needs to take action to make sure the cost of running a heat pump is cheaper than running a gas boiler.

They said a ‘Fair Heat Deal’ should also include removing environmental levies from electricity bills to ensure running costs for heat pumps are lower than for boilers and suggests financial incentives such as zero VAT on green home products should be used to reduce the cost of low carbon homes.

Energy Saving Trust Chief Executive Mike Thornton said: “With the climate emergency upon us, there is no time to waste and we need to take positive action. We have to make our homes more energy efficient and move away from reliance on fossil fuels for heating.

“Heat pumps are an important low carbon heating technology that will help us meet net zero. A Fair Heat Deal will make heat pumps more attractive to householders and help them to switch over to low carbon heating.”

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