Europe urgently needs a clean home energy transition. Buildings in the EU take up 40% of energy consumption and contribute over a third of greenhouse gas emissions.

Heat pumps have been championed as a versatile way of transforming the consumer heating experience. In tandem with good insulation, they can heat and cool homes using a lot less energy than traditional aircon units, boilers or electric heaters. 

Switching to a heat pump can be complicated, costly and confusing

However, according to the EU’s Clean Energy Observatory, installation rates have fallen significantly since last year, reversing the steady growth of  the last 10 years. Switching whole home energy systems is complicated, costly and confusing.

Creating an easier path needs individual attitudes, economic circumstances, strong supply chain, skills and political will to align.  That’s where projects like CLEAR-HP come in. 

Euroconsumers members Altroconsumo, OCU, Testachats and DecoProteste have  been part of CLEAR-HP led by BEUC and launched in 2023. The aim of the multistakeholder project is to enable consumer access to heat pumps by supporting them from choice to installation and upkeep, and by addressing wider financial and regulatory barriers. 

To date, the project has: provided information to consumers on the benefits of heat pump technology and the most suitable and best quality products for their home needs; analysed financing opportunities and raised issue of funding gaps at the national level; and developed partnerships with suppliers and installers and worked with installers to share how to build consumer confidence and knowledge about their heat pump.

Heat pumps: the power of collective purchasing

Collective purchasing schemes bring together large groups of potential customers to secure better prices and conditions from suppliers. As consumer organizations they can make full use of their practical experience of negotiating with suppliers and supporting consumers from initial interest, to more information, finance support through to installation.  

OCU has just launched its purchase scheme in October where 563 Spanish consumers attended a webinar from OCU which discussed why heat pumps were a strong solution to the challenges of sustainability and energy efficiency. Consumers’ Q&A were interested in how systems worked, the costs and what subsidies were available.   

Altroconsumo is also laying the groundwork for a scheme with early engagement with  potential purchasers.  Last week Altroconsumo introduced 100 consumers in Italy to the benefits and downsides of available home heat tech and how to reach the right comfort with the least impact on consumer budgets, and the environment. 

New schemes will be launched each month, with DECOP in December, ZPS in January and Altroconsumo in February, where consumers will have the opportunity to sign up to the collective purchase campaign.   

For heat pump installers reaching high numbers of people in communities is essential for the market to grow: 

Heat pumps: a roadmap to boost uptake 

Aside from purchasing schemes, a wider range of interventions are needed to reverse the decline in heat pump installations. CLEAR-HP’s blend of firsthand consumer insights, analysis of policies, legal frameworks and finance options has driven a set of eight recommendations to scale and speed up household heat pump uptake. 

The recommendations have been grouped into different actions that could help improve uptake, these are flexible and can be applied to different national circumstances: 

1. Make the electricity for heating purposes more affordable by reviewing all fiscal tools and identifying areas where reductions or exemptions can be implemented.
2. Promote new instruments to reduce consumption and price (e.g smart meters, dynamic pricing)
3. Bring in predictable and sufficient subsidies especially for low-income households.
4. Cooperate with banks, electricity suppliers, heat pump suppliers and energy performance contractors to create innovative financial schemes for investments.
5. Involve municipalities to contribute to climate targets.
6. Support the qualification of installers and ways to verify trustworthiness.
7. Help consumers in feeling comfortable with investing in heat pumps.
8. Give multi-apartment buildings a real chance to switch to heat pumps.

Time to get heat pumps ready and rolled out 

At a time when we need to increase consumer take up heat pump technology, different elements have converged to make it more challenging. 

Addressing all the overlapping factors in the ecosystem needs individuals, consumer organisations, banks, suppliers, training centres, local authorities and national governments to work together.  

At November’s Start Talking webinar “The heat is on: can consumers warm to heat pumps? experts from BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation, EnergieSprong initiative, and Synerpod, a start-up for innovation energy renovations explored how to make heat pumps affordable and accessible at the pace needed to meet net zero targets. 

BEUC’s head of energy and sustainability stressed the importance of tackling fake news and negative narratives about heat pumps with the good news:

For another participant, the scale of the change needed was clear, but so was the solution: 

Projects like CLEAR-HP have started to set out the challenge and put forward solutions – it’s time for everyone to pull together to get heat pump ready and really kick start the sustainable home energy revolution. 

Click here to rewatch November’s Start Talking webinar “The heat is on: can consumers warm to heat pumps? 

About CLEAR-HP

CLEAR-HP aims to facilitate consumers’ access to heat pumps by accompanying them throughout the whole purchasing journey, and by addressing financial and regulatory barriers. Independent consumer organizations from Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, led by BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation, have partnered with the International Consumer Research & Testing (ICRT) to promote consumer awareness and empower them to lead the clean energy transition, improving the energy performance and comfort of their homes, and reducing their energy bills.