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‘Govt should focus on greening gas not heat pumps’

The government’s vision for all-electric heat is dead, says the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA). Its chief executive Mike Foster says: The people have spoken and it is time for the government to listen: 99 times out of 100, they buy a gas boiler and not a heat pump.”

Mike is referring to figures* that showed that, between 2009 and 2016, 12.6 million UK homes had a new gas boiler fitted, compared with 113,299 air source heat pumps – even with a large subsidy paid for heat pumps.

Mike adds: “Consumers have voted with their heat, and chosen high-efficiency condensing gas boilers rather than electric alternatives for their homes. It is high time the government acknowledged this and accepts that the all-electric heat scenario adopted by the previous administration is dead.

“People like gas central heating: it suits their needs and pockets. The government should now concentrate all their efforts on greening the gas we use – reducing carbon emissions – rather than continue with the failed experiment of promoting heat pumps as the wholesale solution.

“There is a role for heat pumps but not as the mainstay of UK heat provision. The industry needs to see the government accept this and then work with them, not against them, in delivering an affordable, secure and low-carbon means of heating the home.”

*Source: Sales of condensing gas boilers by year 2009-2016, Sales of air source heat pumps by year 2009-2016.

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