Now I know some detractors refer to this workforce as “boiler slingers” and other such derogatory names but it’s a huge group of tradespeople that the UK now rely on.

And we will need this same group of installers as we make the energy transition, however technologies play out. Fitting a heat pump to replace a boiler is bound to be a more straightforward proposition if the installer is from this group of individuals. So, with this in mind, how is the government going to facilitate the transition?

Well one policy it has launched, the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, subsidises households who wish to install heat pumps replacing boilers. Now the subsidy should not be about giving away taxpayers’ cash for the sake of it, and in this case it should develop the heat pump industry supply chain with a view to reducing the costs of installing an otherwise expensive piece of kit. The actual appliance cost isn’t going to fall (unless you believe in the heat pump fairy) but installing them might, as those doing the work get better and quicker at it.

So, getting this workforce of 130,000 installers access to the subsidy is essential. The problem with the BUS is that the opposite is the case. Responding to a Freedom of Information request from me, Ofgem confirmed that of the 34,000 heat pumps fitted under the scheme, one in three are fitted by just ten companies. No surprise that the biggest energy companies in the land are creaming off the bulk of the subsidy available. The small installer is simply not getting a look in.

Without these small businesses playing a key role in the energy transition, we simply won’t get there. But the very scheme, designed to support the move is just being used to milk the subsidies available. Perhaps it has always been this way, but the installer workforce deserves better.