Turning Down the Heat: a new approach to decarbonising Britain's homes
Abby Sinclair
Today, Stonehaven publishes new independent research making the case for a fundamentally different approach to decarbonising Britain's homes. Turning Down the Heat, commissioned by SGN, finds that the UK's current focus on standalone heat pumps is leaving consumers behind - and putting net zero at risk. The research sets out how hybrid heat pumps, which combine a smaller heat pump with a household's existing boiler, could deliver faster emissions reductions at lower cost, with far greater public support.
Home heating accounts for a significant share of the UK's carbon emissions, and the pressure to decarbonise is real. But with heat pump installations running at a fraction of Government targets, and consumers consistently citing cost and disruption as barriers, the current approach is not working.
This research, drawing on economic modelling and a conjoint analysis of 1,500 UK voters, makes clear why. Installing an air source heat pump costs around £12,000 on average - four times the cost of a new gas boiler. In homes today, running one costs more too. The UK's electricity-to-gas price ratio of 4:1 is one of the highest in Europe, and is directly correlated with our low heat pump rollout rates.
Hybrid heat pumps offer a different proposition. At around £9,250 for a full new system - or as little as £6,250 for households adding a heat pump to their existing boiler - they are cheaper to install, quicker to fit, and require no home upgrades to work efficiently. Critically, they can cut gas consumption by at least 75%, and combined with increased biomethane injections into the gas grid, could deliver up to 5 million additional tonnes of CO₂ savings per year by 2030 - the equivalent of removing 2.4 million homes from the gas grid.
The political dimension matters too. Stonehaven's January 2026 national polling shows that voters - including the Labour-leaning swing voters who will determine the next election - are highly resistant to policies that force costly change. Germany's experience, where mandating heat pump uptake triggered protests and contributed to a dramatic shift in the political landscape, is a warning the UK cannot afford to ignore. A hybrid pathway, by contrast, allows households to transition gradually, preserving consumer choice and keeping bills manageable.
The report makes four recommendations: updating subsidy schemes to reward gas reduction rather than technology type; incorporating hybrids into national energy and climate modelling; reducing the electricity price premium that makes heat pumps costly to run; and supporting biomethane as a strategic complement to electrification.
"Britain's homes need to be warmer and greener, and that goal is too important to be derailed by an approach that doesn't work for most households. This research makes a compelling case that hybrids can deliver real emissions reductions right now, at a cost consumers can actually accept. We're urging Government to look seriously at these findings and give hybrid technology the policy support it deserves."
Adam Bell, Partner, Stonehaven, said:
"The debate around home heating has become unnecessarily binary. This report shows there is a credible, cost-effective path to net zero that doesn't ask people to choose between their bills and the planet. Hybrids aren't a compromise - they're a smarter route to the same destination, and one that has already proven its worth in comparable markets across Europe."