The government has announced its Clean heat market mechanism consultation, which seeks views on the design of a market-based mechanism to support the development of the market in low-carbon electric heat pumps1. The Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering (CIPHE) publicised the details on 12 April 20231.
The consultation covers a range of design features of the planned scheme. These include scheme targets, technologies in scope and weightings for the early years of the scheme; credit trading within the scheme; the collection, handling and use of the data required for the scheme; and scheme administration, compliance and enforcement1.
The stated aim of the proposed mechanism is to create a market incentive to grow the numbers of heat pumps installed in existing premises each year, providing the industry with a clear, long-term policy framework for investment and innovation1.
"This proposed mechanism will create a market incentive to grow the numbers of heat pumps installed in existing premises each year, providing the industry with a clear, long-term policy framework for investment and innovation."
The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 8 June 20231. No further detail on the proposed targets, the technologies in scope or the weightings for the early years has been reported in the material available.
Why it matters for households
The mechanism is aimed at existing premises rather than new build, so it concerns the stock of homes already standing and the heating systems in them1. Its design is intended to work through the market: rather than setting a direct requirement on individual households, it proposes targets and credit trading that would shape what heating installers and manufacturers offer1.
For a household, the practical questions raised by the consultation are which technologies would count towards the scheme, how quickly the targets would rise in the early years, and how the data collected under the scheme would be handled1. Those design choices sit behind the wider framework set out in UK heat pump policy, targets and the rules coming, which governs how homes move away from gas and oil heating towards electric heat pumps.
Energy independence at the level of an individual home depends on what replaces the boiler, how that equipment is powered and what it costs to run. A mechanism that increases the number of heat pumps installed in existing premises would change the options available to households replacing a boiler, but the consultation does not itself set out costs, grants or obligations for individual homes1.
What happens next
The consultation closes at 11:45pm on 8 June 20231. Responses are invited through the government's consultation platform1. No date for a government response or for the scheme's introduction has been reported.
Sources1 cited
- Clean heat market mechanism Consultation, ciphe.org.uk