Leaked documents seen by the website DeSmog suggest that the Energy and Utilities Association (EUA), a gas boiler industry body, has been engaged in lobbying against government heat pump targets.
The draft document, seen by DeSmog and The Guardian, calls the government target for gas boiler manufacturers to face a quota of heat pump installations from 2024 “unachievable”.
The EUA has been critical of heat pumps and their planned rollout, and instead promoted hydrogen for home heating. The association has called on the government to delay the heat pump installation target to 2026.
The draft document seen by DeSmog says that boiler manufacturers can’t meet the proposed heat pump quota target because of the short timeframe and potential fines for non-compliance, which the EUA projects could be £300 million.
The EUA says: “EUA does not believe that the proposed clean heat market mechanism will achieve its stated aims with the policy as currently designed. The central proposal that boiler manufacturers are able to dictate the products homeowners install in their homes is flawed.”
The EUA has also hired the help of Birmingham PR firm, the WPR Agency, which has helped it undertake a media campaign casting doubt on the efficacy of heat pumps, according to DeSmog.
A collection of negative stories about heat pumps has recently featured across the media, notably in the Telegraph, Sun and Express. Similar articles have appeared in the press casting doubt on the efficacy of solar panels, with our sister site, Solar Power Portal, addressing these claims in an editorial.
DeSmog say the WPR Agency was hired by the EUA to create an “integrated PR and social media campaign” to “help change the direction of government policy”. WPR previously said on its website that it wanted to “spark outrage” around heat pumps, though this language was later changed to “spark conversations”, after being contacted by DeSmog.
A WPR spokesperson later told the Guardian: “We changed the wording to better reflect the work we are doing for the EUA – that the country does not have to make a binary choice between heat pumps and hydrogen, we will need both to become net zero.”
Renewable energy company and heat pump installer Good Energy responded to the news about EUA’s lobbying activities, with Kit Dixon, head of policy and regulation, saying:
“While the UK has cut carbon from its electricity system we have barely made a dent in our gas reliant heating. We are already embarrassingly far behind our neighbours across Europe — that the gas lobby is attempting to delay our transition to cleaner heat beggars belief. We cannot sacrifice our climate goals to vested interests and the myth of consumer choice. Heat pump customers are proven to be highly satisfied with a technology which is superior to the humble gas boiler and beyond ready to be scaled.”
The WPR campaign also promotes the use of hydrogen as a heating fuel which would allow customers to continue to use their gas boilers, which the gas industry favours as it can continue to use its extensive gas infrastructure.
According to DeSmog, WPR “takes credit on its website for 32 media hits criticising heat pumps since June 2021 (described as a ‘snapshot’ of results by the firm).”
Analysing Google news results, DeSmog estimates that WPR “has generated two thirds of the high-profile negative content published about heat pumps in the 23 months to April 2023.”
Heat pump uptake in the UK is one of the lowest in Europe, according to EHPA figures. In 2022, France installed ten times the number of heat pumps as the UK.
In November 2022, the EUA called on Ofgem to conduct a village-sized trial of using heat pumps to decarbonise homes. EUA chief executive Mike Foster said the trial “will help inform the regulator and government of the consequences for the consumer.”