Shropshirelass How well insulated is your home. This is going to be the crucial issue. What level of insulation is required for heatpumps to work efficiently
But you put your finger on the nub of the issue when you said it was expensive. Quite simply, for many people in this country the cost of installing a heatpump, is prohibitably expensive because not only is the heat pump itself, far more expensive than a new boiler, but there are so many other things that will have to be changed to make a heat pump system work. new larger radiators, with all the disruption that will cause. Many homes now have combi-boilers, so space will need to be found for hot water tanks which will mean replumbing all the bathrooms, kitchens, Utility rooms, cloakrooms etc in a property.
Combi boilers were developed to be suitable in flat developments and conversions because space did not need to be found for a hotwater tank. Many of these smaller homes are going to find it very difficult to find space for a water tank.
Somebody with a sufficient income to buy a small house reasonably well insulated, but not highly insulated, could find themselves having to pay, not just for the heatpump, but extra insulation, new radiators, installing a hotwater tank and rerunning all the domestic water plumbing. I doubt they will get any change from £20,000 for all that - and probably need more. How on earth do they finance all that?
There is a place for heatpumps in the future, I have no doubt about that, but I find the way this government are convinced that the future is heat pumps and nothing but heatpumps, I find really, really worrying. As i have said before when anyone thinks there is aone simple solution to a complex problem, then they really really do not understand the problem - and that is very worrying.