A new report from the Sustainable Markets Initiative, highlights the important role that electrified ‘cleantech’ homes can play in reducing energy bills.

The report reveals that energy bill savings can offset extra build costs, with total cost of ownership savings potentially reaching up to £18,500 over 25 years.

The report highlights substantial industry progress over the last two years, including 18% of new homes having heat pumps and more than 11,000 heat pump engineers trained. Despite these gains, the initiative claims that further acceleration is needed if the UK is to meet its net zero targets. 

Accelerating the transition could be achieved by phasing out gas boilers in new builds, removing green taxes from electricity bills, and supporting retraining for low-carbon technology installation and maintenance.

In line with the call for bolder action, contributors to the report have made several pledges including Hill Group committing to installing its final boiler this year, Rightmove promoting heat pumps in property listings, and UK Power Networks easing grid connections for cleantech homes.

The report has been produced as part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative Cleantech Homes Lighthouse Project aiming to reshape the future of housing, and developed with leading UK property and mortgage experts such as Baringa, Rightmove, Lloyds Banking Group, Bellway, Hill Group, Savills, and UK Power Networks.

Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy, says: “Homes with heat pumps, solar panels and batteries can make big bills a thing of the past. Sometimes we can eliminate power bills completely.

“With the price of all these technologies falling it’s a cost effective way to cut power bills while also slashing a big chunk of the UKs climate emissions. It’s time to get on with it, which is why we’re calling for bolder action to accelerate the electrification of home heating.”

The Sustainable Markets Initiative was launched by King Charles in 2020 to convene top organisations from industry and financial services, alongside governments to accelerate a sustainable and prosperous future.  The new report has been produced as part of the Sustainable Markets Initiative  Cleantech Homes Lighthouse Project, which involves leading UK businesses committed to net-zero.