High Level Summary of Learning: Heat Pump Customers

Abstract

This summary presents the key messages from the final analysis of the domestic heat pump group (test cell 3) in the Customer-Led Network Revolution monitoring trials. It presents outputs from the largest study of household electricity use in the UK and provides integrated socio-technical analysis of domestic customer loads and electrical consumption on the basis of interdisciplinary multi-method research. This report draws on qualitative interviews and home energy tours conducted with 18 households recruited from the 331 domestic customers involved in the CLNR air-source-to-water heat pump (ASWHP) trial (Test Cell 3). Participants with ASWHP were contacted directly by one of the research team, using information provided by the energy retailer, which had previously identified households that were willing to participate. The semi-structured interviews focused on building rapport with the participant while discussing their energy use in general terms. These conversations included information about occupancy, major electrical loads, heating regimes, washing and cooking practices, thoughts and feelings about electricity use, seasonality and other temporal factors as well as experiences of and responses to new technologies. Interviews were focused on two clusters within the regional network: social housing tenants in South Tyneside and County Durham. Social housing landlords had installed loft and wall insulation, where feasible, and retrofitted an ASWHP at no cost to the tenants. Interview participants had lived with the ASWHP for between 6-12 months, including the winter months. Interviews were conducted between January and March 2013.