Jointly drafted with Andrew Gigiel; submitted by him yesterday.
Dear Editor
Ref: Guardian 22nd July p24 – “Ban new gas boilers in UK from 2025 or miss net zero target – CBI”
I commend the CBI’s proposed 2025 phase-out of gas boilers in existing as well as new properties. It’s good that the CBI recognises a key problem: heat pumps are more expensive than gas boilers. I would add, they’re more complicated too – potentially very challenging as regards difficulty and costs of repairs.
I and my co-author Christopher Jessop discussed these problems in our 2019 Institute of Refrigeration technical paper, Why don’t more people install heat pumps? Our conclusion: heat pumps should be neither sold nor rented. Instead, companies should invest in large fleets of heat pumps which they install, retaining equipment ownership.
These suppliers would be responsible not just for maintenance and/or replacement but – this is crucial – they should also source the electricity needed to run the heat pumps. With or without a standing charge, the householder would be billed by the kilowatt hour for the supply of heat.
Our proposed system overcomes so many problems perceived as barriers to heat pump adoption; indeed, a “We own it and you just pay for the heat” arrangement should make heat pumps preferable to gas: a win-win for consumers and the environment.
Andrew Gigiel
Fellow of The Institute of Refrigeration