Governments have helped consumers to meet upfront costs for heat pumps by providing stable incentive schemes and with running costs by reducing tax on electricity. In some countries tax on electricity is several times higher than that on gas, making even highly energy efficient heat pumps more expensive to run. This has a direct impact on sales.
Last week's European leaders' summit called for action on energy costs; European Commission president von der Leyen subsequently singled out electricity tax as a key issue to address.
“If people are worried, they will pay more, they won't switch to a heat pump” said Milagros García Salciarini, Policy Officer at the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA). “As our report shows, they see changing national support schemes and high electricity taxes, and hesitate. This delays Europe's move to clean heating and cooling powered by homegrown renewable energy. The European Commission wants to tackle electricity taxes; doing so would open the way for greater heat pump uptake, boosting Europe's energy security and competitiveness.”
Around 2.62 million heat pumps were sold last year in those 16 countries, up from 2.38 million in 2024 and bringing the total number of heat pumps installed in Europe to around 28 million.
EHPA spoke to national heat pump experts and analysed press released from the different countries to summarise the reasons for last year's sales.
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