UK's heat pump subsidies fail to drive adoption due to high costs and questionable home fit
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The government's Boiler Upgrade Scheme to subsidize heat pumps has failed to drive adoption, with only 18,900 installations to date out of a possible 300,000.
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Even with subsidies, heat pumps remain expensive - a £7,500 discount doesn't make them affordable for most. Costs are not coming down as scale increases.
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Heat pumps are of questionable effectiveness in many homes, leaving some customers cold despite heavy investment.
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There is little natural consumer demand for heat pumps - the subsidies seem to mainly assuage middle class climate guilt.
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The government needs to ask how long it can justify sinking public money into propping up an industry whose products lack mass appeal.