Encouraging heat pump adoption in heat pump ready oil-heated homes

Behavioural Insights for Policy series: Primary research  

Year: 2024 

Topic: Heat pump adoption 

Methodology: Survey, Online experiment  

Author: SEAI Behavioural Economics Unit  
 

Summary

To accelerate heat decarbonisation through heat pump adoption in heat pump ready oil-heated homes, SEAI's Behavioural Economics Unit conducted two pieces of research in 2022: (a) interviews with SEAI-registered heat pump installers, the findings of which are the subject of a separate report and (b) survey of a sample of target homeowners, including a choice experiment to estimate willingness to pay for heat pumps, the results of which are summarised in this report.

The results point to an apparent paradox whereby it is very difficult to get homeowners to consider switching to a heat pump unless their current heating system needs replacing, but barriers to heat pump adoption are particularly heightened when a replacement is urgently needed. A number of policy recommendations are made based on the findings.