The new data shows the number of heat pump installations in England and Wales that are fully or partly funded by the public, in addition to all being VAT free.

The latest figures for 2024 show that up to the end of September at least 85 per cent of heat pumps (29901 units) fitted under the government's accreditation scheme (MCS) were fully or partly publicly funded, either through taxation or levies on bills.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, a taxpayer-funded subsidy of £7500 per heat pump, accounted for 15330 installs and ECO funded via energy bills accounted for 13409 installs. Up to the end of September there were 35175 ASHPs fitted under the MCS accreditation scheme.

Commenting on the figures, Mike Foster CEO of EUA said:

“The UK heat pump market is growing year on year, unlike many countries in Europe where the opposite is the case, but the market is still fragile. It is relying on public subsidies to sell the products. This cannot continue, especially in a fiscally constrained political environment.

“The stark facts remain, they cost too much to fit and cost more to run than a gas boiler. Unless this changes, the market for heat pumps will remain fragile. And it is not sensible to make boilers more expensive or increase the cost of gas, with 23 million users, just to make heat pumps attractive for a few thousand people.

“We can see in Europe that when the subsidies disappear, heat pump sales plummet. Boom and bust is no way to sustain this industry. If we can’t afford to heavily subsidise all heat pump installations, for all homes, then we need to look again at the roadmap for net zero homes.

“Let’s hope the Warm Homes Plan next year recognises this new reality and approaches domestic decarbonisation through the prism of the real world and not that of the all-electric zealots.”

The data is avaialable via the link below: 

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674ddb046f6baefc2a9ca1a5/Heat_pump_deployment_quarterly_statistics_United_Kingdom_2024_Q3.ods