Government set to pull back from enforcing heat pump installation targets

It is widely expected that the Clean Heat Market Mechanism which the Government planned to launch in April, will now be scrapped, paving the way for boiler manufacturers to continue installing gas and oil boilers over heat pumps without penalty.

 The scheme was to have imposed fines on boiler makers who were not meeting their targets of heat pump installations. Last month the manufacturers responded by increasing their prices, arguing that the target were unachievable and they were covering themselves ahead fines they claimed were inevitable. 

The speculation that the government will bow to industry lobbying has provoked a torrent of criticism from those who see this as another retreat from much-needed net zero targets.

Doug Parr, Greenpeace UK Chief Scientist said on X (formerly Twitter): ‘Very bad, imo more significant than UK Govt rolling back petrol car phaseout date.

‘Nothing now to push UK electrification of heating, leaving home heating dependent on volatile fossil fuel’

Jess Ralston, analyst at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU), said: ‘If energy independence is the Government’s priority, policies that lower our gas demand, like this one, should be top of the list. Any delay to the move towards electric heat pumps would worsen our energy security by keeping us tied into gas for longer, which will increasingly come from abroad as the North Sea continues its decline. New licensing won’t shift the dial on that.

‘It would also be a disastrous signal to send to the heat pump industry which has been gearing up for the policy’s introduction in just two months’ time and may jeopardise investments that companies are already making in the UK’s heat pump industry. More screeching U-turns for the energy industry is not great when we’re increasingly competing for investment with international markets that are pressing on with net zero as a route to energy security, including rapidly rolling out heat pumps.

‘The gas boiler lobby has already been called out for underhand tactics. The Secretary of State herself has described this threat from the gas industry as price gouging. Ultimately the consumer loses out when we’re left more dependent on gas markets – everyone who pays an energy bill knows that from the past two years.’