Centrica Starts Selling Heat Pumps as U.K. Homes Ditch Boilers

(Bloomberg) -- Centrica Plc is embracing the future with its first sales of heat pumps to help curb carbon emissions from British homes. 

The machines are much more efficient than the nation’s traditional gas boilers and use electricity to transform outside air to heating. The U.K. has a goal of installing 600,000 heat pumps per year by 2028, and a total curb of new gas boilers by 2035.

British Gas, Centrica’s retail unit, will install its first pump in southwest England in February, and will focus on that region before expanding nationally, according to a statement. The company wants to sell as many as 1,000 units this year and is targeting 20,000 a year by 2025. 

“There is a big challenge ahead of us to decarbonize U.K. homes,” said Jana Siber, managing director of British Gas. “Heat pumps are an essential part.”

The U.K. announced in October a 3.9 billion-pound ($5.3 billion) plan to drive down emissions from heating. A typical heat pump installation can cost between 10,000 and 20,000 pounds. Homeowners will receive 5,000 pounds from the government to install the technology, though the money available so far accounts for about 90,000 homes only.

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