Run on heat pumps before subsidy gets cut
The demand for heat pumps jumped after the government announced on Budget Day that it would cut the subsidy next year. The installation sector is happy about the increase in orders, but worries about 2025, AD reports.
From next year, the government is cutting the subsidy on a standard hybrid heat pump with a 4-kilowatt capacity by 650 to 700 euros. Many consumers are ordering heat pumps before the cut happens. Installer Feenstra, for example, saw orders increase by 10 to 15 percent since Budget Day, compared to last year.
Installers fear that demand for their business will collapse in January. “We had to scale up, the government said a few years ago. Everyone had to switch to heat pumps,” Marijn Flipse of heat pump company Quatt told AD. “And now this. The sector is following in the footsteps of solar panel installers.”
Dozens of solar panel installers went bankrupt this year after the government announced that the netting scheme would be phased out and energy companies started charging feed-in costs.
Flipse expects they might even have to lay off installers. “The sector has built up a lot of capacity and that will now be reduced again within a few months. A crying shame.”
Industry organization Techniek Nederland is very critical of the government’s policy. “The Schoof Cabinet says it is opting for green growth, but there is no sign of that yet. Reducing subsidies for heat pumps is bad for companies, bad for the climate, and bad for the green economy of the figure,” spokesperson Dick Riejman told the newspaper. “Companies that are desperately needed in the coming years to achieve the climate objectives are now in danger of being hit hard.”
The Ministry of Climate and Green Growth told AD that it was considering a “possible introduction of a transitional scheme” for those who purchased a heat pump this year and apply for a subsidy for it next year.
