Recommendation 21

DESNZ does not have a single measure of the number of heat pump installations. Instead, it relies on data from a range of sources, including the number of heat pump 32 Q 21; DHH0008; DHH0010, Written evidence submitted by The Retrofit Academy, 29 April 2024; DHH0027, Written evidence submitted by Schneider Electric, 29 April 2024; DHH0033; DHH0037, Written evidence submitted by MCS Service Company, 29 April 2024 33 Qq 21, 25–28; C&AG’s Report, para 3.15 34 DHH0014, Written evidence submitted by The MCS Foundation, 29 April 2024 35 Qq 24–25; DHH0053 36 DHH0008 37 DHH0027 Decarbonising home heating 15 grants provided through government schemes, Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) installations data and heat pump sales data. Data from the Heat Pump Association indicates that some 55,000 heat pumps were sold in 2022.38 We asked DESNZ why it did not have a mechanism to measure how many heat pumps had been installed. It explained that there were “challenges”, as no one was required to tell DESNZ whether they had installed a heat pump. It considered that requiring this information would be “overly regulatory”. It also told us that not everyone who installed a heat pump was certified by the MCS, so not all installations were captured in the MCS installations data. In addition, DESNZ explained that there were significant numbers of installations taking place in the devolved administrations, which were not included in its data, and that the number of heat pumps that are installed in new build homes would not always be captured either.39