CLEAR-HP - Consumers Leading the EU’s Energy Ambition Response through uptake of Heat Pumps

CLEAR-HP aims to facilitate consumers’ access to heat pumps products by accompanying consumers throughout the whole purchasing journey, and by addressing financial and regulatory barriers. Independent consumer organisations from Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain, led by BEUC, The European Consumer Organisation, have partnered with the International Consumer Research & Testing (ICRT) and with the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA) to promote consumer awareness and empower them to lead the clean energy transition, improving the energy performance and comfort of their homes, and reducing their energy bills. This will be done by:

• Providing information to consumers on the availability, quality and suitability of heat pump products for their homes.
• Analysing and identifying available financing opportunities for consumers and addressing gaps with national authorities, to improve consumers’ access to heat pump technologies.
• Exploring and developing partnerships with heat pump suppliers and installers at national and European level.
• Launching collective purchase schemes based on ‘purchase and install’ packages which ensure the quality of the product offered and simplify the purchasing process for consumers, as well as offering consumers ongoing advice and support.
• Upskilling installers of heat pumps in what consumers need to know.
• Communicating to consumers the general benefits of heat pumps versus traditional technologies to encourage new and future investments and interest.

Some concrete key performance indicators (KPIs) of the project include: CLEAR-HP will engage at least 43,000 consumers in collective purchase campaigns across 7 countries and will trigger 3.5M EUR of new investments in RES technologies, 2 GWh of primary energy savings, and reductions of 639 tCO2,-eq GHG emissions within the project duration alone.

The project started in 2023 and will be completed in 2026.

Main beneficiaries: energy poor communities, consumers, and others.

It addressed the topics of: energy consumption, information and awareness, consumer needs.

The partners of the project are: Altroconsumo (Italy), BNAAC (Bulgaria), DECO PROTeste (Portugal), OCU (Spain), SOS (Slovakia), Test-Achat (Belgium), ZPS (Slovenia), BEUC The European Heat Pump Associatin EHPA - International Consumer Research & Testing - ICRT (UK).