Have your say on raising the standards of boilers and heat pumps

The government is consulting on raising the standards on boilers and heat pumps – and it wants you to have your say. The consultation and draft statutory instrument follow on from last month’s Warm Homes Plan announcements.

The consultation wants views on its proposals for technical changes to improve the energy efficiency standards for space heating appliances (including heat pumps, gas and oil boilers), and temperature controls, as well as improvements to their labelling, to help consumers make informed choices.

The proposals are aimed at reducing domestic gas consumption and preparing for the transition to low-carbon heating. The consultation:
• Sets out proposals to enable the electrification of heat, including by raising minimum efficient standards for heat pumps and introducing such standards for hybrid heat pumps for the first time.
• Proposes to remove some lower-performing products from the market and improve interoperability of different manufacturers’ products.
• Proposes improvements to product labelling standards to ensure these best inform consumer choices, including reforming the current space heating energy efficiency scale from A+++-G to a simpler A – G scale.
• Sets out proposals aimed at strengthening the effectiveness of the regulations, including by tightening the tolerances accepted under verification testing, revising product efficiency benchmarks, and proposing pragmatic changes to the requirements for third-party testing, to allow recognition of testing completed in other jurisdictions, such as the EU.

The consultation closes on 25 March 2025 and you can respond here or get in touch with the Space Heating Product Standards Team at DESNZ via email at: spaceheatingstandards@energysecurity.gov.uk

• You can read more about the government’s proposals here.