Rachel Salisbury with son Jasper and two of the British Gas engineers that installed their Daikin heat pump - the first in the country to recieve a BUS grant
The Daikin Monobloc system was installed and commissioned at 00.01am on 1April at the home of a British Gas customer in Hungerford – the first household in the UK to receive a Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant of £5,000 towards the upfront cost. And it is the first heat pump to be installed with a Mixergy smart hot water cylinder.
British Gas and Daikin have recently formed a new partnership designed to increase take-up of renewable home heating technology, underpinning a commitment from Centrica to install as many as 1,000 air source heat pumps this year in the UK. By 2025 the aim is to install up to 20,000 per year.
Daikin already sells around 200,000 high quality, highly-efficient air-to-water heat pumps per year for homes in mainland Europe, where incentives that make the initial investment more manageable have been in place for longer.
The technology is widely recognised as the best immediate solution to decarbonise heating and hot water systems for millions of homes and is critical to keeping the UK on track to achieve net zero by 2050.
Jana Siber, managing director at British Gas commented: “This is a landmark moment for the renewable heating market in the UK, as the Boiler Upgrade Scheme funding makes heat pumps more accessible to more homeowners.
“Installing a heat pump is one of the single best things households can do to lower their carbon footprint, today. We understand that everyone’s homes and individual circumstances differ, but for those who can, now is the time to look at renewable home heating – with support from us, and from Daikin.”
Henk van den Berg, strategic business manager – heating & renewables at Daikin UK, added: “Daikin has been installing heat pumps in the UK since 2005 and uses the latest and most efficient technology. It’s vital that those making the swich to heat pumps have an excellent experience – during the installation and in the weeks, months and years that follow. Then they can spread the word and encourage others to follow suit.
“That’s why we’re so pleased the Boiler Upgrade Scheme has been kickstarted with a quality, tried and tested Daikin system – installed by experts we’ve trained at British Gas. We hope that more households who are in the position to upgrade their boiler to a heat pump will now do just that – benefiting from a £5,000 grant and the recently-announced removal of VAT.”
Installers can offer the £5,000 incentive to their customers for installs commissioned from 1st April onwards and open Boiler Upgrade Scheme accounts from 11th April.