Areas with the most heat pumps revealed… and the places where they haven’t caught on yet

The regions in Britain with the most – and fewest – heat pumps have been revealed.

The number of appliances being installed in Britain has increased in recent years as households look to reduce their carbon emissions and lower their energy costs.

Heat pumps use electricity to transfer heat from the air or ground to buildings for heating, and are an alternative to traditional gas boilers.

With the cost of living taking a bite out of household budgets, half of British households (49 percent) say they have embraced green habits, mainly to save money – although the initial cost of a heat pump is £8,000 or more. is a barrier.

Cornwall is the heat pump capital of Britain, with 14,043 homes using the technology, according to an analysis of 26 million homes by comparison company Uswitch.

The Southwest region has 11,980 air-to-water heat pumps and 14,043 ground-water heat pumps, meaning that more than 5 percent of the 277,078 households have adopted the technology.

Widespread adoption in Britain has been slow due to a range of factors, including its high installation costs compared to gas boilers, and the fact that it is better suited to newer homes that are well insulated and airtight – rather than many of the older, draftier homes in Great Britain.

A shortage of skilled installers and a lack of consumer knowledge are also reasons for the slow update in Britain.

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A household that replaces a gas boiler with a ground-source heat pump could potentially reduce its energy bill by up to 50 percent.

To achieve these savings, the heat pump would have to be installed to very high standards, so that the efficiency of the heat pump is high and the household has to pay a heat pump tariff.

Across Britain, just 1 percent of homes have heat pumps installed, while 228,877 air-to-water heat pumps and 32,174 ground-to-water heat pumps are in use.

Wiltshire has the second most heat pumps, with 4,709 of the region’s 209,052 households. King’s Lynn and West Norfolk, Shropshire, and Breckland, Norfolk, make up the rest of the top five.

Mid Suffolk has the highest percentage of heat pumps in homes, with 6.8 per cent of the region’s 42,211 households having one. Blackpool has the lowest rate, with just 0.1 per cent of the area’s 82,785 homes investing in the technology.

Tamworth in Staffordshire is the region with the fewest heat pumps, with just twenty in total. Hyndburn and Barrow-in-Furness have the second lowest numbers, at 24 and 27 respectively.

Energy expert Ben Gallizzi from Uswitch said: ‘Heat pumps have so far spread slowly across the UK, with their widespread adoption hampered by high installation costs and poorly insulated homes.

‘There are different types of heat pumps, including air or ground source heat pumps, and some can be expensive – and disruptive – to install.

‘While they can reduce your energy bills if properly installed, the amount they will save you is difficult to predict as it depends on which system they are replacing.

‘If you’re replacing a standard gas boiler, a heat pump is less likely to deliver savings, although it will dramatically reduce your carbon emissions.’