This is a House of Commons Committee report, with recommendations to government. The Government has two months to respond.
This is the report summary, read the full report.
Decarbonising home heating represents one of the biggest challenges to the government achieving net zero, requiring almost all 28 million UK households to engage in the transition. Households using fossil fuel heating, such as gas boilers, will need to switch to a low-carbon alternative, such as heat pumps. But the costs of doing so are high, with far fewer households than expected installing a heat pump to date. An average heat pump is currently four times more expensive than a gas boiler, and electricity prices mean that heat pumps can be more expensive to run.
The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) aims to reach 600,000 heat pump installations per year by 2028. We are not yet convinced that progress to date matches its ambitions. Consumers still face too much complexity and confusion to make informed decisions about installing a heat pump, including understanding whether they need insulation upgrades to manage their energy bills. DESNZ faces a substantial challenge to increase the number of trained heat pump installers to support an elevenfold increase in heat pump installations. It needs to be realistic about levels of consumer demand, raise public awareness of heat pumps and work with industry to make heat pumps more affordable. It will be essential that DESNZ carefully monitors the rate of installations against its ambition and evaluates progress regularly.
It is important that no one is left behind in the transition to low-carbon heating, yet DESNZ is still to work out how it will support households to decarbonise their homes where heat pumps are not a practical solution. Low-carbon heating will need to be supported by reliable and green sources of energy, but government’s plans for decarbonising the power sector are delayed substantially. Moreover, the government committed in its October 2021 Heat and Buildings strategy to decide on the role of hydrogen for heating in 2026. Since then, DESNZ’s work to test hydrogen for heating has been beset by problems, with key trials cancelled. Since our evidence session, DESNZ has also announced that it will not progress work on a hydrogen town pilot until after 2026. Indecision over the role of hydrogen for heating is creating uncertainty for investors who need to invest in major low-carbon technologies.