Octopus says heat pump rules are deterring customers

Octopus has urged the government to relax “restrictive” planning rules which it claims are deterring many of its customers from installing a heat pump.

The retailer says that more than a quarter of Octopus customers who have expressed an interest in installing heat pumps have been told they will need planning permission to do so, which Octopus claims puts off all but “a very few”.

In its submission to the House of Commons energy security and next zero committee’s Heating Our Homes inquiry, Octopus identifies planning as one of the “main hurdles” facing the roll out of heat pumps.

Under existing rules, planning permission is required for all heat pumps within 1m of a property’s boundary.

However Octopus says planning regulations on heat pumps, which also focus on the noise and size of the devices, are “too restrictive” and are not “uniformly applied” by local authorities.

It gives examples of customers’ applications being rejected because of councils setting arbitrary noise limits for heat pumps as low as 30db, which is equivalent to whispering.

This is also less than half the 70db that external oil boilers, which do not require planning permission, can make.

Octopus says 27% of its customers wanting to install a heat pump have been told to apply for planning permission, which is not needed for a gas boiler.

The firm’s inquiry response adds that “many” customers decide against heat pumps when they become aware of the requirements for planning permission.

Those who do proceed with a planning application must wait eight to 10 weeks on average to have it processed, which may lead to further cancellations by pushing installations into the winter, according to the submission.

And even if customers meet all the requirements, Octopus there is “no guarantee” that local councils will grant permission due to differing interpretations of central planning guidelines.

The combined impact of all these factors means that “very few” of the 27% of its customers who require planning for their heat pump have ended up installing one, according to Octopus.

The submission recommends that the existing 1m rules should be removed to help those living in homes with smaller outdoor spaces to get a heat pump.

It also calls for the removal of size limits on outdoor heat pump units and the introduction of specified nationwide noise standards for the devices.

Allied with this, the sound threshold for planning permission should be raised to 47db, which Octopus says is still quieter than a typical refrigerator or moderate rainfall.

Octopus also calls in its consultation for DNOs to loosen up the existing system of fuse upgrades, which the company says have been required by 45% of its customers that had a heat pump installed.

It says in most cases DNOs insist on performing this fuse upgrade themselves in a separate visit to the property prior to the heat pump being installed.

However the process of applying for a fuse upgrade and an extra visit to the property can add delays of up to 12 weeks before an installed heat pump can be switched on, says Octopus.

The retailer adds that any customer should be immediately allowed a “no questions asked” fuse upgrade for low carbon technology and DNOs should allow any qualified electrician to carry out the work.

This would enable sufficient speed for so called “distress” installations, such as when a customer’s existing boiler has broken down and they need a new heating solution urgently.

It says Octopus has recently carried out a trial with UK Power Networks to provide fuse upgrades at the same time as heat pumps were being installed but bemoans that not all DNOs are so open to such exercises.

Octopus says DNOs should also be more flexible in response to where customer interest emerges for low carbon technologies, such as heat pumps and electric vehicle chargers, rather than relying on modelling to carry out strategic upgrades of their networks.

And shifting so called green levies from electricity to gas would result in an average customer switching from a boiler to a heat pump saving £251 a year rather than having to pay an additional cost of £29 over the same period, based on current costs.

It says that heat pump customers saved an average £120 per annum when the government shifted these subsidies from bill payers to the Exchequer last year as part of its response to the energy crisis.

In addition, the response calls for the government to stop publishing separate parallel strategies on hydrogen and heat pumps because this sends “conflicting messages” to customers, installers and manufacturers.

Instead, Octopus backs growing calls from bodies, like the National Infrastructure Commission, for the government to publicly commit to electrification as the main route to decarbonise home heating in order to provide the certainty needed to invest.

Despite Octopus’ concerns around planning, heat pump advocates have suggested that the government’s decision to increase the value of grants available under the Boiler Upgrade Scheme could see the annual budget “blown” before March.

In its response to the Committee on Climate Change’s annual review, the government identifies heat pumps and heat networks as “the primary means for decarbonising heating over the next decade” and states that “no one should hold back on installing a heat pump or connecting to a heat network on the basis that hydrogen may become an option later”.