Swedish clean energy-tech company Aira has launched a smart air source heat pump that can be paid for in monthly instalments.
The new heat pump is operated via a smart app, and comes with smart features that enable the heat pump to learn a homeowner’s patterns and prepare heating and hot water accordingly.
According to Aira, its new heat pump can reduce a household’s heating costs by 25% compared to a gas boiler, and reduce carbon emissions by 75%.
The Aira heat pump costs £4,000-£7,000 to buy and install for a three to four-bedroom house, after the £7,500 discount homeowners can get with the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme. It also comes with a 15 year performance guarantee, and 15 year product and service warranty, which includes maintenance.
Aira has stated that the purpose of the payment plan and service offering is to make heat pumps more accessible to homeowners.
The upfront cost of a heat pump, especially when compared to a boiler, can be a barrier for many households, even with the government grant.
Running costs can also be an issue. Even though heat pumps are three to four times more efficient than boilers, they can sometimes cost slightly more, or not much less, to run than boilers. This is because electricity costs almost four times more than gas, at current prices.
This means there isn’t much of a return on investment with heat pumps, at least, not in terms of energy bill savings, and for some homeowners, this doesn’t leave much of an incentive for getting a heat pump.
Despite these challenges, the Swedish company has stated that its mission is to “take Europe off gas and accelerate the electrification of home heating”.
Sweden is one of the best European countries for heat pump installations, so despite Aira being a relatively new company, its engineers have over 20 years of experience working with heat pumps.
Aira is hoping that this experience, the “sleek Scandi look” of its product, and its payment plan will attract UK customers. It aims to install heat pumps in 1 million UK households over the next decade.
Martin Lewerth, Aira Group Chief Executive Officer, said: “Heat pumps have been around in Scandinavia for decades and we are excited to bring contemporary heat pump design and technology to wider Europe. The time to switch is now, because a warm home shouldn’t cost the earth.”
Just over 225,000 heat pump installations have been carried out across the UK so far, with around 40,000 being carried out in 2023, according to the latest Microgeneration Certification Scheme (MCS) data.
The government wants to reach 600,000 heat pump installations by 2028, over a tenfold increase in just four short years.
To boost heat pump uptake, the government is instituting a quota system on heat pump sales for manufacturers, called the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, along with the existing Boiler Upgrade Scheme.
