More heat pumps could have reduced UK gas use

The UK could have reduced its natural gas consumption by up to a third and its imports by a fifth if it had matched European rates of heat pump installation.

Research from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit found that if Britain had hit the same level of new heat pumps as Estonia did in 2021, gas use would be 34 per cent lower today.

Last year, the small Baltic country installed 25 times as many heat pumps per capita as the UK which managed just 63 per 100,0000 people.

The UK has a subsidy scheme that gives grants of £5,000-£6,000 for households to install new heat pumps, but this only runs until 2025.