Experts from a “nudge unit” have been hired to help ministers fight misinformation about heat pumps to try to encourage take-up of the devices.
The appliances run on electricity instead of gas and are regarded as a way of decarbonising homes at scale. A target of installing 600,000 a year by 2028 is part of a drive to achieve Britain’s commitment to reach net zero by 2050.
However, misinformation shared in the media and by “other stakeholders” is impeding uptake, according to a £100,000 government contract awarded to the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), which specialises in ideas to “nudge” the public into taking different actions.
The contract awarded to BIT contains details of a previously unpublished research by the Department for Energy.
It found that individuals who self-reported that they knew a fair amount or a lot about heat pumps were less likely to want one. However, people who correctly answered a simple knowledge question about heat pumps were more likely to want one.
BIT is finalising a large survey of householders’ views and coverage in the media that will be used in planning how the government will push back against misinformation.
“Information about heat pumps is being shared by the media and stakeholders, which may be skewed to negative, incorrect or exaggerated stories of heat pump adoption,” says the contract, which cites examples including claims that the pumps are noisy, cost too much to install and are not reliable and don’t work in older homes.
Articles about heat pumps in the Daily Mail and the Daily Telegraph were cited in the document, which states that some of these stories “are generally well-founded, such as believing that heat pumps are expensive” but adds that some include incorrect misconceptions, such as believing they might not work well in the cold.
“Online information which is imbalanced or skewed towards incorrect and exaggerated claims could be considered an environment where misinformation is a problem,” it reads.
The “stakeholders” are not named but the then Conservative energy minister Martin Callanan last year accused “vested interest in maintaining our current supplies of gas boilers and the like”.
The technology has also come under fire most recently from Reform UK, which is seeking to leverage an anti-net zero agenda, while heat pumps have been openly criticised on GB News by the party’s leader, Nigel Farage.
The Reform UK deputy leader, Richard Tice MP, has also been particularly hostile towards the technology, claiming that heat pumps were useless in most homes.
Toby Park, the head of climate, energy and sustainability at BIT, said: “Heat pumps are a very efficient low-carbon system for keeping our homes warm but negative perceptions remain a barrier to their widespread adoption.
“Sometimes scepticism is due to real market challenges, such as affordability, but doesn’t take into account the whole picture, such as the availability of grants. In other cases it can be due to myths such as the claim that heat pumps don’t work well in cold weather.”
While installations of heat pumps in the UK have hit a record number last year, they have still only reached about 42,000 since January. Air-source heat pumps cost just over £12,500 to buy and install on average, about four to five times more than gas boiler. The government offers a £7,500 grant for households installing the technology.
In terms of the claims, experts say the majority of households are expected to be able to use heat pumps, rather than just newer ones. It was also found that, on average, heat pumps were far more efficient than gas boilers, turning one unit of electricity into 2.5-5 units of heat.
