Recommendation 9

We asked DESNZ whether heat pumps were being installed by people who may have switched to a heat pump anyway, particularly more affluent households. DESNZ accepted that the universal nature of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme raised a prospect of “deadweight”, with some recipients able to afford to install a heat pump even without the grant, but explained that it decided to have a flat-rate scheme for “simplicity” rather than linking grants to income. It told us that it believed that its approach was supported by the increase in applications since the grant uplift. DESNZ is evaluating uptake of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant among different socio-economic groups, for which interim results are due in the second half of 2024.16