Warmur Co-Founder Jo Alsop was invited to speak to Evan Davies on BBC Radio 4's flagship news commentary programme, PM, providing insight on the barriers that exist to accelerating the roll out of heat pumps for home heating. You can listen to the full interview here, beginning with a voxpop with Nottingham residents,

The National Audit Office released a report that made several recommendations to increasing the demand for heat pumps.

The interview first covered the high upfront cost of heat pumps. In response to a suggestion that a heat pump costs £10,000, Jo set out that the average cost of a heat pump as £5,000 after the grant, compared to a gas boiler at £2.5-£3.5k. She made that case that while not everyone can afford that today, many people can and are motivated to do so.

Evan asked about the heat pump market and was it ready to ramp up demand. Jo responded that it is still a fledgling market and supply was constrained by installers who still believe hydrogen is going to be an option for households when it has no role to play in the foreseeable future.

Finally Evan raised high electricity prices as a barrier to take up and the taxes on electricity that are not on gas. Jo agreed that gas and electricity prices need to be rebalanced and this is a key recommendation made by the NAO. Heat pumps cut demand by a quarter to that of a gas boiler, but electricity prices are four times higher, so all the benefit is lost.