Cost reduction was crucial to the recent 10% jump in heat pump sales, new analysis from the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) finds.
In 12 out of 16 European countries*, sales went up in 2025. This was mainly due to governments helping consumers with upfront purchase costs by providing stable incentive schemes, and with running costs by reducing tax on electricity.
In some countries tax on electricity is several times higher than that on gas, making even highly energy efficient heat pumps more expensive to run. This has a direct impact on sales.
At last week’s European leaders’ summit they called for action on energy costs; European Commission president von der Leyen subsequently singled out electricity tax as a key issue to address.
Milagros García Salciarini, Policy Officer at the European Heat Pump Association said:
“If people are worried they will pay more, they won’t switch to a heat pump.
As our report shows, they see changing national support schemes and high electricity taxes, and hesitate.
This delays Europe’s move to clean heating and cooling powered by homegrown renewable energy.
The European Commission wants to tackle electricity taxes; doing so would open the way for greater heat pump uptake, boosting Europe’s energy security and competitiveness.”
Around 2.62 million heat pumps were sold last year in those 16 countries, up from 2.38 million in 2024 and bringing the total number of heat pumps installed in Europe to around 28 million.
EHPA spoke to national heat pump experts and analysed press released from the different countries to summarise the reasons for last year’s sales.
*The countries are: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland, UK.
Sales grew in all except Austria, France, Norway and Poland.
Contact:
Sarah Azau
sarah.azau@ehpa.org
sarah.azau@ehpa.org
