The Daily Telegraph

Net zero has diluted the benefits of heat pumps

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sir – The contrastin­g letters (February 28) from Roger Wood and Peter Gilbert illustrate that, as with electric car ownership, only those of us with substantia­l means can benefit from installing a heat pump.

Air-source heat pumps do not perform adequately, particular­ly at temperatur­es below 5C, but very few householde­rs have the space or access to install the more expensive groundsour­ce versions.

Mr Gilbert does not say how much he has invested in his boreholes, heat pump, insulation and solar array, nor does he tell us the characteri­stics of his home, but I should not be surprised if his expenditur­e exceeded £40,000. The claim of a four-to-one return on kilowatt usage is based on laboratory testing and is seldom achieved in practice (like the claimed fuel consumptio­n of diesel or petrol cars and the range of electric cars).

I installed a ground-source heat pump in 2008, when the annual operating cost was under £1,000 and heating oil had risen to 65p per litre. Owing to the failure of successive government­s to ensure adequate electricit­y generation, alongside the unrealisti­c pursuit of net-zero carbon (with the associated “green levy”), the operating cost has risen to £7,000.

And guess what – oil is currently 65p per litre. I am pleased that I retained the oil tank and pipe work.

John Micklethwa­ite

York

sir – I have shares in Shell, National Grid and Centrica. Obviously I look for a good dividend, as these organisati­ons appear to have made lots of money from the energy crisis.

However, it is high time the Government clipped their wings with an increased windfall tax. This would give them an incentive to cut prices, which at present they don’t have. Duncan Rayner

Sunningdal­e, Berkshire

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