Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) chief executive Mike Foster has claimed the Government's plan to extend the heat pump rollout is dead in the water in the face of the cost-of-living crisis. The Express reports one of the Government's strategies is to phase out gas boilers and replace them with energy-efficient heat pumps, but this faces massive problems with spiralling energy bills leaving householders feeling the pinch.
Heat pumps are expensive for many, even with support from the Government’s £5,000 Boiler Upgrade subsidy, and Mr Foster said: "Research dictates a quarter of UK households across the UK have no savings, with some areas like the West Midlands at 42%. To continue to have a policy that asks people in the middle of an energy crisis to fit a heat pump costing as much as £10,000 is frankly perverse.
“The Government needs to urgently come up with a credible domestic heating strategy that gives us a road map to heat our homes and deliver net zero.”
Mr Foster noted that the subsidy still leaves households trying to find the shortfall; a tall order with a cost-of-living crisis to contend with. He added: “Consumers can’t afford heat pumps; they can’t afford to retrofit their homes with energy efficiency measures; they can’t afford new radiators or to pay for a hot water cylinder to be installed.
“Put bluntly, most can’t afford to pay the bills soon coming their way with price cap increases. They have no savings and yet the Government’s strategy is still to ask them to fit a heat pump they won’t be able to afford.”
Mr Foster argues there are other cost-effective measures out there to save money for the consumer. He said: “Is now the time for taxpayers to pay a middle-class bung to fit a heat pump, when there are better ways of reducing bills for more people and cutting greater levels of carbon?
“We know Whitehall officials are worried it is failing. The total scheme, over three years, amounts to £450 million subsidising 90,000 heat pumps. That same amount means nearly one million homes could get free insulation, cutting bills by nearly £220 million a year. Surely that’s the greater prize in these difficult times?”
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