Share this page!

Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Twitter logo
May 10 • 8 tweets • 3 min read
So, the #QueensSpeech today included a "market based mechanism" for heat pumps, requiring boiler manufacturers to sell a quota of heat pumps.
What is it all about?
Well, @nesta_uk and @B_I_Tweets recently published a piece on it, and here's a thread...
media.nesta.org.uk/documents/Nest…
The "market-based mechanism" is a requirement for all boiler manufacturers to sell a certain number of heat pumps, in proportion to their boiler sales. Similar to how car makers will soon have to sell electric vehicles.

Here's the govt's consultation doc
gov.uk/government/con…
It should get more heat pumps out there and make them cheaper.
It may also force manufacturers to take more interest in installation. They will likely need to build relationships with more installers. And I guess (?) some manufacturers might offer installations themselves.
Will it work?
We think it will help. But it won't be enough on its own, and govt will need a set of other policies.
The biggest gap at the moment is skills - if we don't train thousands of heat pump installers each year, there will be no one to fit all these heat pumps.
There's a risk that you get lots of big companies entering the market, and either competing for a small pool of skilled installers, or bringing in new people without adequate training / experience.
Government needs a skills plan to stop that happening.
Another risk: some manufacturers might roll out cheap, inefficient heating systems, leaving customers facing even high bills.
It's vital that government finds a way to maintain minimum efficiency standards as part of this market mechanism.
nesta.org.uk/blog/the-effic…
And one final thought: the market mechanism could work especially well if energy suppliers *also* had an obligation to support / roll out heat pumps, alongside manufacturers.
Anyway, lots more details in our paper here.
This seems like quite a dry policy on paper, but it could have a very big impact on how the heating industry works in future....

media.nesta.org.uk/documents/Nest…

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Andrew Sissons

Andrew Sissons Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @ACJSissons

Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Mar 21
One of my biggest frustrations with the UK's economics and financial discourse is how *hydraulic* it is.
We focus heavily on relatively small changes - a tax cut here, a bill rise there - and largely ignore the big changes that really affect our standard of living.
A thread...
The big story on the cost of living is really about slow wage growth.
Since 2008, prices have risen by 2.1% a year on average.
The median wage has risen by 1.9% a year.
See the problem?
It isn't normal for wages to grow less than inflation for long periods.
If real wage growth had carried on at the previous rate after 2007, the median wage would now be *£195 per week* higher.
Incidentally, that (36%) is about the same gap as between UK and US GDP per capita.
Read 10 tweets
Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Mar 9
I talked a lot last week about the need to bring down the cost of heat pumps.
But our new research with @B_I_Tweets suggests up to 25% of homeowners would be willing to buy a heat pump now, at their *current price*

nesta.org.uk/report/estimat…
We put a panel of 1,800 home owners in a scenario where their boiler needed replacing, and asked them to choose between a new gas boiler and a heat pump.

The only thing we varied was the upfront price of the heat pump. And here are the results at different heat pump prices…
There is some good and bad news here.
Good: lots more people than expected said they’d choose a heat pump, even at £10-£12k (the current cost)
Bad: more than half said they wouldn’t choose a heat pump even if it cost roughly the same as a new gas boiler.
Read 5 tweets
Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Oct 16, 2021
The HMT analysis of the costs of Net Zero reported here looks very weak.
I haven’t seen the whole thing and can only go on the lines quoted in this article, but there are some clangers in there.

A thread on the three arguments I can see…

amp.theguardian.com/environment/20…
Argument 1: “Green investments might displace other more productive investments.”

This might be a problem if we hadn’t had record low interest rates (i.e. investors desperately seeking productive investments) for the last decade. There is very little risk of crowding out atm
On investments, it’s also worth noting that green investments (e.g., renewables) have massively outperformed fossil fuel investments for decades now. Investing to tackle climate change looks like a good bet. Don’t trust me - trust the markets.
Read 6 tweets
Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Oct 8, 2021
One very important thing about climate change: the cost of reaching Net Zero is NOT the same as the impact of Net Zero on the economy.

I really recommend getting your head round this if you’re interested in climate change and haven’t already (a thread)
Reaching Net Zero will be costly. The best estimates I’m aware of are somewhere between £50bn and £70bn per year (if you recall a Treasury warning about it costing £1 trillion, that was likely something like £50bn a year for 20 years).
That cost will likely be split between government (via taxes or borrowing) and people (via higher energy bills, pricier cars etc.). £50-70bn is equivalent to about £1,000 per person per year - it’s a lot.
Read 9 tweets
Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Oct 6, 2021
This is essential reading on Levelling Up from @NeilDotObrien, one of the key people behind it. Good to see Government setting out more thinking on this.

But what you really want is my paragraph-by-paragraph commentary on it 😬 (a thread)
After a quick intro, Neil starts by saying Levelling Up will happen everywhere. There are no trade offs, everyone’s a winner.

Problem: this either requires an *enormous* amount of cash, or it means spreading a little jam very thinly. It is very expensive for everyone to win.
Then we get “grow the north to solve the housing crisis in the south”. I support the “grow the north” part, but…
…Two problems: 1) this sounds a lot like levelling down the South; 2) if this is your only plan, you’ll be waiting a long, long time to ease the housing market
Read 13 tweets
Andrew Sissons Profile picture
Oct 3, 2021
This strikes me as a perfectly reasonable set of things for Levelling Up to be.
But this still needs a lot more fleshing out.
(Short thread)
1. You will eventually have to actually define things. There are so many trade offs, and you can’t please everyone.

Is it towns v cities? North v everywhere? Just marginal constituencies or a genuine national effort? Is it mainly about economic growth or restoring civic pride?
2. What are you going to do differently to make it work this time?

Governments have been trying to do all of this stuff for ages. Why do you think they failed, and how will you avoid the same mistakes?
Read 4 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

:(