01 March 2021
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The Heat Pump Federation and Ground Source Heat Pump Association have voiced concerns over rumours that the Green Homes Grant may be scrapped completely by the Government in the forthcoming Budget.
Whilst the Green Homes Grant has come in for a great deal of criticism and has struggled to attract installers, partly because of the terms and conditions and partly because of the apparent failings in its administration, the scheme is said to have successfully raised consumer awareness of heat pump technology to a level that no other intervention to date has achieved.
Laura Bishop, chair of the GSHPA, said: “On this basis alone, the HPF and GSHPA were delighted that a second full financial year had been announced and have been working with officials in BEIS to improve take-up amongst their members. In our opinion, it would be entirely feasible to improve the scheme and to see deployment numbers rise significantly as a result.”
The heat pump industry is determined to meet the Government’s ambition to deploy 600,000 heat pump systems per annum by 2028. This was set out in the Prime Minister’s recent 10-Point Plan and encouraged in both the Energy White Paper and the recent consultation response from MHCLG on the Future Homes Standard.
The GSHPA and HPF encourage Ministers at BEIS to ask the Chancellor to retain the Green Homes Grant and either roll over unspent funds into 2021-22 or otherwise increase the second-year budget. They have asked that BEIS and the Treasury work directly with the heat pump industry to review and reform the scheme’s terms and conditions so that many more of our members will see the merit in supporting it with increased registration rates with Trustmark.
Bean Beanland of the HPF said: “it is clear that, under the appropriate commercial conditions, uptake in participation by installers will climb, awareness and demand from the public is there to be serviced, and we see very little evidence of homeowners not wanting heat pump engineers in their homes as a result of the pandemic. As with all government interventions, give the industry an extended period of stable policy, and the heat pump sector will deliver growth, training and secure new employment.”
