Regarding the increase to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, the £150m 2024/25 budget has been increased to £180m. This is a welcome response given £106m of the budget has already been spent, and a further £31.5m of the budget has been allocated (through vouchers which have been issued but not yet redeemed). Applications in September 2024 were 12% greater than the previous month, and three times higher than September 2023, and so a doubling of the budget for 2025/26 to £295m is also an appropriate response to a ramping up of demand for the scheme.
Regarding the changes to permitted development rights (removing the requirement to locate the heat pump at least 1m from the property boundary), this reduces complexity for the occupant and installer, and streamlines the installation process. It improves the potential for small properties to find an appropriate location for the heat pump. It is worth noting that heat pumps produce around 40-60dB of noise, which is very similar to gas boilers. Noise complaints following installations are very low at only 0.03%: Factcheck: 18 misleading myths about heat pumps – Carbon Brief
The Government has an ambitious target to upgrade 5 million homes over the next 5 years. Energy efficiency improvement is a vital step in reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from our building stock. The £3.2bn investment as part of the Warm Homes Plan will target energy efficiency investment for home occupiers with low incomes, and those who are most vulnerable to cold. The Warm Homes Local Grant is a Local Authority scheme to upgrade properties from Energy Performance Certificate D and below, to C. The Warm Homes Social Housing Fund is a scheme to enable the improvement of Local Authority housing stock, also to EPC C.
Place-based approaches, delivered by Local Authorities in partnership with other local stakeholders, are a great way to harness the knowledge of those local partners in targeting those with greatest need. EDRC is evaluating place-based approaches, and you can learn more about that work here: Place – Energy Demand Research Centre
It is worth noting that Energy Performance Certificates are seen as no longer fit for purpose, and so the ambition to upgrade 5 million homes requires appropriate ways of measuring that upgrade and the energy performance of the building. Our research on flexibility has identified that an evaluation of a home’s potential to be flexible would be very useful to know, and you can learn more about that work here: Demand Flexibility Certificates: Increasing the Visibility of Demand Flexibility through Certification