Heat pump installations in the UK have already exceeded last year’s total, setting a new milestone for the Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) with three months still to go in 2024. By the end of September, 42,000 installations were completed—outpacing 2023's total by approximately 4%.
The UK government is launching the Warm Homes Grant in 2025, an exciting initiative aimed at helping homeowners make their properties more energy-efficient. This fully funded scheme is available to those who meet certain criteria and could significantly reduce your energy costs while lowering your home's carbon footprint.
This week, the UK's last coal power station closed, signalling that the country’s energy landscape is undergoing a massive transformation. For over 200 years, coal was king, powering industry and homes alike. But today, renewable energy sources like wind, solar, and hydro are rapidly replacing fossil fuels in the national grid. With that change comes a new challenge—and opportunity—for those of us in the heating and plumbing industry.
With the UK election out the way and a new government in place, we feel it’s important to explore the potential implications for the heat pump market now that Labour has taken the helm. For plumbers, particularly those considering diversifying into heat pump installations, Labour's anticipated measures could present significant opportunities in the evolving green energy sector.
The UK remains overly dependent on natural gas, according to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), which provides independent recommendations to the government.
In its recent annual assessment, the NIC highlights the urgent need to reduce reliance on high-cost, high-carbon natural gas and accelerate the adoption of heat pump technology to meet the ambitious net zero targets by 2050. According to the Commission, decarbonising buildings is a critical aspect of this transition and represents the single biggest challenge on the path to net zero.
With 2023 nearing an end and Christmas on the horizon, we thought now would be the perfect time to thank our customers and installers, who have continued to spread the word about our services. We would also like to thank our employees, who have been committed to delivering outstanding customer service throughout the year.
With 2022 wrapping up, we thought it would be a good time to recap how our year has been. The last 12 months have been a blur with everything moving at lightning speed. We’ve partnered with a record number of heat pump installers and have expanded our team significantly to keep up with heat pump demand. This year alone, our team has grown by 62% and doesn’t show signs of slowing.
Last month, Santander released a new report stating that UK House Buyers were willing to pay a premium for energy efficient properties. The study which surveyed 2,300 buyers found that energy efficiency was one of the most desirable features of a home, ranking higher than a large garden or a home office. Right now, buyers are placing a 9.4% premium on green properties, which is great news for anyone who has installed or is intending to install a heat pump at their property. On average, buyers were willing to pay £26,600 more for a green property which is considerably more than the cost of installing a heat pump.
The last few Autumns and Winters really have been a bit crazy when it comes to heat pump and hot water cylinder stock. Before the pandemic hit, most manufacturers had no ongoing stock issues however from 2020 onwards there has been a dramatic change, meaning we can no longer assume there will never be any issues with the supply chain. We therefore decided to make a big change to our distribution strategy. We extended our warehouse capacity so that we could significantly increase the quantities of both heat pumps and hot water cylinders from various manufacturers so that we could hold in stock ourselves.
The last three months of the year are always the busiest for any heating business. The start of the winter heating season is always the time when any gremlins in the heating season reveal themselves; it’s also the time when it becomes important to get new heat pumps commissioned, switched on and getting heat into the property. As a result, the demand on our team of heat pump engineers is higher than at any other time.
On Tuesday, the BBC and many other media outlets published articles highlighting the concerns experts had regarding hydrogen as a home heating system and compared it to more efficient alternatives such as heat pumps. The article also looked into a new study that reviewed 32 pieces of literature relating to the merits of using hydrogen for domestic heating.
The end of 2021 is nearly upon us and when we look back we are certain that it will be viewed as the year that the Heat Pump industry finally achieved blast off. This year has been unbelievably busy, with so many enquiries about heat pumps from homeowners, heating installers and housebuilders, all of whom are looking to improve green credentials and do their bit to better the environment.
The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (“RHI”) scheme for air source and ground source heat pumps is only open for a further 7 months! The scheme is set to end on 31st March 2022 for new applicants - that’s just 7 months away! If you are considering a ground source heat pump or air source heat pump for your home, now is the time to act in order to benefit from this generous Government grant scheme.
The Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (“RHI”) scheme remains open to applications for new air source heat pump and ground source heat pump installations. However, the scheme is set to end on 31st March 2022 for new applicants - that’s less than 12 months away! If you are considering a ground source heat pump or air source heat pump for your home, now is the time to act in order to benefit from this generous Government grant scheme.
