The South West is on average adopting heat pumps faster than the rest of England, with the South Hams installing more than four times the number compared to the rest of the country, new research shows.

According to The Eco Experts’ 2024 National Home Energy Survey, which polled 2,184 people, the uptake of heat pumps in the South West was 11 per cent higher than the national average in the past year.

MCS Installations Database figures also show that the installation average for South Hams was also 3.62 per cent higher than England's average (0.82 per cent).

The Eco Experts’ editor, Roland Ellison, told this paper: “The heat pump adoption figures from the National Home Energy Survey are not hugely surprising for the South West, especially considering the high percentage of rural residents in this region.

“In Devon, 90 per cent of the land area is considered rural. This has a large knock on effect for home energy as many houses will not be connected to the national gas grid, leaving them reliant on oil central heating, rayburns or coal-fired furnaces.

“This has resulted in many homeowners in Devon turning to heat pumps when looking to upgrade their heating systems.”

Heat pumps have a low carbon footprint and are considered more efficient than traditional radiators as they can both heat and cool.

However, there are question marks over their efficiency in cold weather and the fact there is initially a higher installation cost, which the report noted has created “an adoption barrier” for many. This is in spite of the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers a £7,500 discount for homeowners.

There are currently two types of heat pumps – ground source units, which are more efficient but often cost more than double (currently between £16,200 and £49,000), and cheaper air source units, costing between £2,400 and £14,000.

Installation costs are expected to fall by up to 25 per cent by 2030, but a recent Devon Housing Commission report acknowledged that despite the potential for savings, “capital costs will often make home retrofit and insulation of heat pumps an unaffordable proposition”.

It added: “Devon is currently installing an average of only three heat pumps per day, when fifty per day are needed to reach net zero by 2050.”

Bean Beanland, director at the Heat Pump Federation, nonetheless downplayed concerns over cost.

He said: “You see headlines all the time that heat pumps are four-to-five times more expensive, but they’re not. The heat pump might be 50 per cent more than the boiler, the cost is the transition, and the transition is a one-off cost.”

The topic of heat pumps has proved controversial of late, even among environmentalists and green energy advocates.

Writer George Monbiot, a South Hams resident, recently criticised Dale Vincent, the owner of Ecotricity, for saying that a national heat pump programme would be too expensive to implement, citing £300 billion in costs.

Mr Monbiot dismissed Mr Vincent’s claims as “outlandish”.