Heat pump goal unrealistic, says Sureserve boss

NICHOLAS EARL

HEAT PUMPS are still too expensive for social housing providers considering the transition from gas boilers, Sureserve boss Peter Smith has warned.

The chief executive of a leading energy services firm told City A.M. that “the maths doesn’t stack up” for installing heat pumps compared to established heating options.

He revealed it costs his firm £3,000 to fit a new gas boiler for a social housing tenant, but that it costs three times as much to install a heat pump – even with the help of £5,000 grants offered by Downing Street as part of the £450m Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

Smith said: “While the government is talking the right language here – the commercial reality is that, for social housing clients, it doesn’t work.”

Smith added that the UK’s target to install around 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028 was “headline grabbing” and “meaningless”, with the UK lacking the number of heat pumps and engineers needed to achieve this.