Tamsin Lishman, Kensa’s CEO, has reacted to government heat policy announcements this week.
Tamsin said: “Policy certainty and stability are critical for continued investment in the UK’s heat pump sector and its ability to support green growth. Kensa plans to increase its manufacturing output and installations twenty-fold in the next five years, but this is heavily reliant on the right government policies, at the right pace.
“Today’s announcements are major steps in the right direction. Much-needed clarity on the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, early details on the Warm Homes Plan and funding commitments for clean heat schemes all help provide that certainty that businesses need to make investment decisions.
“However, there are still important gaps in the framework. We don’t have a Future Homes Standard, a central policy for cutting our ties with gas and normalising heat pumps in UK homes. This, and a plan of action to reduce levies on electricity bills, are urgently needed to help make heat pumps both the environmental and economic choice.
“We strongly welcome today’s confirmation of the introduction of the Clean Heat Market Mechanism next April. This policy is critical to the expansion of the UK heat pump market, driving up installation numbers and giving the industry confidence to invest and scale up.
“Just like the Zero Emissions Mandate in the automotive sector, we expect this scheme will help drive down heat pump prices and increase installations. Reducing the initial level of penalties levied on boiler manufacturers strikes a sensible balance between getting the policy in place quickly and addressing concerns about possible market disruption. We urge the government to keep the scheme under scrutiny and make adjustments as necessary to ensure the scheme delivers on its intended objectives.
“Introducing the Future Homes Standard without further delay is the single most important thing the government can do right now to support heat decarbonisation, heat pump deployment and ensure supply chains ramp up and costs come down. It’s therefore disappointing the government didn’t use today’s announcement to clearly set out plans and timelines for its introduction, which would have provided a strong signal to the market to prepare and invest.
“Each month without its introduction sees another 15,000 new homes needlessly fitted with gas boilers, creating another half a million tonnes of CO2 and £145 million in future costs to homeowners to convert later. We’re already working with housebuilders to ensure heat pumps cost no more than gas boilers to install in new homes, avoiding future retrofit costs without putting up building costs or new house prices, all while reducing energy bills and carbon.
“We encourage the government to quickly implement the Future Homes Standard and accelerate the transition to sustainable, affordable heat benefitting both the environment and household finances.”