Heat pumps are popular with households let down by oil-boilers, despite ‘culture war’ misinformation
Oil-heated households are significantly more likely than average homes to have experienced problems with their heating, according to new findings from renewable electricity company Good Energy.
And despite heat pumps having become a ‘culture war’ issue, the majority of residents of oil-heated homes are open to installing the greener technology.
Given the evidence that people in oil heated homes are experiencing greater issues and are more open to heat pumps than others, Good Energy is today calling for all political parties to make manifesto commitments to a more urgent cut-off for new oil boilers being installed after the ban was delayed to 2035. The current date is not aligned to the country’s climate goals, so the company wants to see it brought forward to at least the Climate Change Committee’s advised phase out deadline of 2028.
Good Energy commissioned Opinium1 to survey views on a wide range of topics around sustainability.
It found more than half of UK residents polled (58 per cent) had been let down by their heating at some point. The figure rose to more than three quarters for households with oil-fired heating (78 per cent).
The majority (53 per cent) of people in homes heated with oil would consider installing a heat pump — higher than the average of 40 per cent. The figure is even higher for those who have experienced problems with their heating system – regardless of their heating technology – with more than two thirds (70 per cent) saying they would consider installing a heat pump.
This is despite the steady stream of myths and misinformation about heat pumps, recently cited as a ‘campaign’ funded by ‘vested interests’ by Minister for Energy Efficiency Lord Callanan, some of which people in oil heated homes are more likely than average to believe. A quarter have been misled to think that heat pumps don’t work in the cold, compared to an average of 15 per cent. And more than a third (36 per cent) falsely believe that a heat pump is louder than a fridge, higher than the average of 23 per cent.
In September Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a delay to the planned ban on new oil boilers, which were set to be phased out from 2026, to 2035. And unlike the delay to banning sales of petrol and diesel cars, Labour has not confirmed that it would reinstate the original deadline.
This delay is despite the survey also finding that 64 per cent of residents polled agree the UK is not moving fast enough on its climate goals, and 62 per cent believe reaching net zero would be beneficial to the country.
Good Energy, which specialises in bespoke heat pump installations, sees around 40 per cent of its installations come from off-gas grid oil-heated homes, while only around 3% of homes in the UK are heated with oil. This reinforces the willingness of oil-heated homeowners to switch to heat pumps.
Good Energy chief executive Nigel Pocklington said: “It is no wonder that people in oil heated homes want to get off the ghastly stuff. Not only is oil terrible for the environment, it’s smelly, takes up space and the costs are unpredictable.
“Despite some culture warriors peddling the rubbish that larger, rural properties are unsuitable for heat pumps, we have successfully swapped out oil boilers for heat pumps in plenty of off gas grid homes. We see no reason for either main political party to put off the inevitable end to oil heating.
“The UK has to decarbonise heating fast, and off gas grid, oil heated homes should be among the first to go green.”
The Government has ambitions to install 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, with grants of £7,500 available through the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
To counter the myths and misinformation around their installation and operation, Good Energy launched a campaign – Ten myths around air source heat pumps busted.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
1 Research conducted online by Opinium Research. Fieldwork was undertaken between 17-20th October 2023 amongst 2,000 UK adults and results have been weighted to be nationally representative.
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Ian McKee / Rhiannon Barriball
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About Good Energy www.goodenergy.co.uk
Good Energy is a supplier of 100% renewable power and an innovator in energy services. It has long-term power purchase agreements with a community of more than 2,000 independent UK generators, is the UK’s largest voluntary administrator of the Feed-in-Tariff scheme and offers solar and heat pump installations.
Since it was founded almost 25 years ago, the company has been at the forefront of the charge towards a cleaner, distributed energy system. Its mission is to power a cleaner, greener world and make it simple to generate, share, store, use and travel by clean power.