600,000 heat pump goal survives Sunak net zero retreat

The government is sticking with its commitment to deploy 600,000 heat pumps per annum by 2028 despite Rishi Sunak’s move to exempt around a fifth of households from a requirement to get rid of their gas boilers.

The decision to stick with the ambitious annual target is revealed within a briefing paper issued to industry stakeholders and seen by Utility Week. 

It comes after Sunak outlined a “new approach” to how the government will meet its carbon reduction commitments. Within his announcement, Sunak revealed that some households will be exempted from the government’s 2035 ban on new or replacement gas boilers.

The government expects around a fifth of households will enjoy this exemption, including off-gas-grid homes and those requiring expensive retrofitting or a very large electricity connection in order to make them heat pump-ready.

In addition, the government announced that the phase-out date in off-gas grid areas for new and replacement fossil fuel boilers has been pushed back from 2026 to 2035.

According to a briefing paper issued by the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero’s clean heat team following Sunak’s speech, the exemption is designed to reassure households that may require “very expensive” energy efficiency measures, such as solid wall insulation or face technical feasibility issues installing a heat pump. 

However other government policies on heating remain the same, says the note.

It states that the government “remains committed” to deploying 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 as originally pledged by Sunak’s predecessor Boris Johnson.

The briefing paper also says the government will introduce as planned the new Future Homes Standard in building regulations in England from 2025, which ensures all new homes will use low-carbon heating from that date.

And it says the UK-wide Clean Heat Market Mechanism, which will oblige home heating manufacturers and retailers to supply heat pumps alongside gas boilers, is being introduced as planned.

Existing measures to develop heat networks, including zoning, will also continue as planned.

Mike Foster, chief executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, told Utility Week that the 600,000 heat pumps per annum commitment “doesn’t make sense” in the light of the government’s decision to exempt a large proportion of households from the requirement to phase out gas boilers.

The government’s commitment to end the installation of fossil fuel boilers in off-gas grid from 2026 had been seen in the industry as one of the key drivers for successfully meeting the 600,000 heat pump commitment.

Foster also said the government’s plans to introduce an exemption from the fossil fuel boiler ban also increased the case for the conversion of the gas grid to hydrogen.

He added: “If you have a gas distribution network that is effectively operating at the size it is now but is shipping only 20% of the gas, it would be grossly unfair on those homes and properties that are left on the gas network to pay the full current cost of the gas network.”

The only way to make the gas network affordable, Foster said, would be to increase the number of properties remaining on the grid to a “more viable number”, he said: “Potentially that gives a very clear indication that hydrogen is going to have a significant role to play in heating more homes in the UK than perhaps had been envisaged by some.”

The Association of Decentralised Energy said that a straw poll at its annual conference in London showed that 75% of delegates said their confidence had been significantly eroded  following yesterday’s announcement by Sunak.

Just 20% of the 250-strong audience reported that the announcement had not affected their business confidence, while five per cent said the speech had strengthened their outlook.