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‘I’m the first man in Britain to get a heat pump for free’
The Government is trying to persuade 600,000 households a year to switch from boilers
An Oxfordshire homeowner is set to become the first person in Britain to have a heat pump installed for free.
Gary Smith’s installation quote fell to zero after the Government increased the boiler upgrade scheme grant to £7,500 last month.
Mr Smith had been told by his supplier, Octopus Energy, that putting in an air source heat pump at his property would cost him £7,500, minus the heat pump grant, which at the time stood at £5,000.
Faced with a £2,500 bill, Mr Smith, 33, was weighing up whether to go ahead with the upgrade.
But then an Octopus salesman rang to say that the Government had increased the grant, which would now cover the full cost of the installation at his detached new-build home in Bicester.
“I was surprised,” Mr Smith said. “And I decided to go through with it. Making it free made it a no-brainer.”
Just 3pc of homeowners will qualify for heat pump grants
In September, Rishi Sunak upped the grants available to homeowners from £5,000 for air source heat pumps and £6,000 for ground source models, as part of a wider overhaul of net zero policies.
Heat pump installations typically cost between £7,000 and £15,000, meaning homeowners still faced spending thousands to have the units put in before the subsidy was increased.
Mr Smith is thought to be the first homeowner in the country to secure a commercially available heat pump free of charge by making the most of the new higher grant.
The sale of new oil and gas boilers is set to be banned from 2035. The Government’s boiler upgrade scheme aims to slash Britain’s CO2 emissions by encouraging a switch to heat pumps – a greener electric alternative.
However, the scheme has come under fire for failing to boost low uptake.
In its first year, fewer than 10,000 of an available 30,000 heat pump grant vouchers were redeemed, leaving 60pc of the scheme’s £150m budget unused.
And while the grant has increased to £7,500, the £150m-a-year cap has not changed, meaning only 20,000 households can apply for a voucher this year, down from 30,000.
The total is far lower than the Government’s target to persuade 600,000 households a year to switch to heat pumps by 2028.
If the £150m cap remains, just 3pc of the homeowners targeted will be able to get the grants. The rest must pay the full costs for themselves.
Mr Smith says he feels lucky to have benefitted from the grant, but believes the Government should be doing more to incentivise uptake.
“I think there should be better subsidies,” he says. “For older homes, doing grants just on the heat pumps themselves may not be enough. You need to make your house more insulated. Offering more incentives for that would help.
“I think it’s strange that new builds like mine aren’t being built with heat pumps already installed, especially if the Government has such lofty targets.”
A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “We are supporting homeowners who want to install a heat pump to do so – building on the £81 million in vouchers already issued with plenty of room for growth in the existing budget to support households to make the switch.
“It remains our ambition for 600,000 heat pumps a year to be installed by 2028 – backed by a 50pc increase in cash support – making the scheme one the most generous of its kind in Europe.”