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.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has today announced the Government’s commitment to ban fossil fuel heating from new homes by 2025. In today’s Spring Statement, Hammond confirmed the introduction of a new standard for new build homes will be introduced by 2025, in order to future-proof new build homes with low carbon heating, such as heat pumps.
According to the latest advice from Government advisors, new build homes should be banned from connecting to the gas grid within as little as 6 years in order to tackle climate change. As reported in the Times and the BBC, The Committee on Climate Change report, titled “UK Housing: Fit for the Future”, suggests that all new-build homes in the countryside should be heated by heat pumps, rather than traditional fossil fuel boilers.
