Heat pumps: What are they and will you save money?
The government has introduced a new grant to install the more environmentally friendly technology
Last updated 27th May 2022
Grants of £5,000 will be available to households, from next April, to replace their gas boiler with low-carbon heat pumps as part of efforts to cut emissions from homes.
The Government announced the grants as it confirmed a target for all new heating system installations to be low carbon by 2035.
It will also support up to 240,000 jobs across the UK by 2035, they said.
The scheme forms part of more than £3.9 billion to cut carbon from heating and buildings, including making social housing more energy-efficient and cosier and reducing emissions from public buildings, over the next three years.
What is a heat pump and how pricey are they?
An air source heat pump looks like an air conditioning unit on the outside of buildings, and it works a bit like a fridge in reverse, using electricity to extract energy from the outside air to provide heating and hot water for homes.
On average, a new system can cost around £10,000 but costs are expecting to fall as the product becomes more popular.
How different are they to run?
The main difference is you don't get that immediate boost you can get with gas, when you feel cold and you fire up the boiler.
That is because a heat pump heats water in the radiators to a lower temperature than a gas boiler, so it warms a house more slowly.
But with a heat pump, the system works out the most efficient way to keep the house to the temperature you want and gets on with it.
Do you save money from running one?
Most people will not be saving money at the moment, that is because, although heat pumps use much less energy to create the same amount of heating, electricity is around three times the price of gas.
Part of the issue is that there are higher environmental levies on electricity than gas, adding 23% to electricity bills and less than 2% on gas, to pay for things such as subsidies for renewables, which were brought in to help clean up the electricity system.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said:
"As we clean up the way we heat our homes over the next decade, we are backing our brilliant innovators to make clean technology like heat pumps as cheap to buy and run as gas boilers - supporting thousands of green jobs.
"Our new grants will help homeowners make the switch sooner, without costing them extra, so that going green is the better choice when their boiler needs an upgrade."
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