Heat pump awareness continues to grow in UK

UK – Awareness of air source and ground source heat pump technology continues to rise in the UK, according to the latest figures from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ).

The Public Attitudes Tracker (PAT) is a survey of adults (aged 16+) that tracks public awareness, attitudes and behaviours relating to policies affecting energy and climate change.

Heat and energy use in the home

When asked about specific low carbon heating systems, people were most aware of air source heat pumps (77%, up from 71% in winter 2021) and ground source heat pumps (72%, up from 67% in winter 2021). There was lower awareness for other low carbon heating systems including biomass boilers (63%), heat networks (52%), hybrid heat pumps (52%), hydrogen boilers (44%) and hydrogen ready boilers (35%).

In other findings:

• 22% of owner occupiers were likely to install or already have an air source heat pump, compared to 12% for ground source heat pumps, 14% for hybrid heat pumps and 10% for biomass boilers.
• 41% said they were unlikely to install an air source heat pump, slightly up from 38% in winter 2024.
• A substantial minority said they did not know enough to decide if they would install a low carbon heating system (between 30% and 38% for each system).
• Among owner-occupiers who said they were unlikely to install a low carbon heating system, the main barriers were the cost of installation (51%), a perception that it wouldn’t be viable in their home (36%) and concerns about the possible running costs (35%).

Net Zero and climate change

• 9 in 10 were aware of the 2050 Net Zero target (90%), this has remained broadly stable since winter 2021.
• Almost 8 in 10 said they were concerned about climate change (77%). Overall concern has declined slightly from 79% since summer 2025, and from 85% since autumn 2021.
• Nearly 7 in 10 said that they supported government action to reduce climate change in the UK (68%), with 45% saying they supported this strongly. Overall, 12% said they opposed such action.

Energy bills and tariffs

Almost all people said they paid at least some attention to the amount of heat they used (96%). The main reason for paying attention was to minimise money spent on heat (70%). Most people (91%) said they had heard of ‘time of use’ electricity tariffs, while knowledge (knowing a fair amount or a lot) of these tariffs was at 41% (no changes since Winter 2024).

• The winter 2025 wave of the tracker, which ran from 4 November-9 December 2025, is the 15th wave in a series of surveys which began in autumn 2021. Between autumn 2021 and summer 2023, surveys were conducted every quarter, although there was no data collection in autumn 2023. From spring 2024, the survey moved to a triannual design with waves conducted every spring, summer and winter. The full findings are available here.