The overall price of heat pumps should be cut in half. That is the commitment of agreements signed Monday between housing corporations, installers, manufacturers and the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning.
The deal should significantly reduce the cost of making social housing more sustainable. It should also make tenants wiser. Trade organization Techniek Nederland, housing association Aedes and the Ministry of Housing and Spatial Planning put their signatures under it.
Manufacturers pledge to work toward optimum balance between lifespan, initial investment, maintenance and warranty terms. Installers want to make gains in more efficient planning, installation execution, service and maintenance. Housing associations are pushing for serial installation flow as a basis for economies of scale. The government will provide supporting frameworks and preconditions, while innovators will contribute knowledge and expertise.
Accelerating transition
The signatories aim to halve the total lifetime cost of heat pumps. That is the sum of depreciation, service and maintenance costs and replacement costs over the lifetime of a social housing unit. According to the organizations involved, the collaboration can substantially accelerate the transition to a natural gas-free housing stock.
Chairman Mark Harbers of Techniek Nederland is pleased with the agreements. "If we manage to halve the total lifetime cost of the heat pump, sustainability will be within reach for tens of thousands of housing association houses."
Liesbeth Spies, president of the umbrella association of housing associations Aedes, believes the declaration of intent shows that installers and manufacturers are taking responsibility. "In this way we can take a big step towards a natural gas-free housing corporation stock."
