Only one in 250 Britons would be willing to cover the average cost of installing a heat pump, polling reveals.
The average cost of installing an air source heat pump under the boiler upgrade scheme is around £12,800.
A poll of 2,000 people carried out by Obsurvant on Nov 28 found 0.4 per cent of respondents would pay more than £10,000 towards a green upgrade.
The Government is offering £7,500 grants towards heat pump installations for homeowners, meaning a typical household will pay around £5,300 towards an air source heat pump.
However, just three per cent of those surveyed would be willing to pay between £5,001 and £7,500. A further one per cent said £7,501 to £10,000 would be acceptable.
On Tuesday night, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) admitted there was “still more to do to encourage consumers to switch to low-carbon alternatives such as heat pumps”.
Out of the British adults surveyed, 37 per cent said they would not be willing to pay anything at all.
Around 15 cent would pay between £1 and £1,000, 16 per cent between £1,001 and £2,500 and 12 per cent £2,501 to £5,000. Seven per cent did not have a gas boiler and nine per cent were not sure.
When asked what they considered the main barrier to installing heat pumps, three in five (59 per cent) said how much it costs.
Critics of net zero said the polling was unsurprising and argued it highlighted the weaknesses of the Government’s green energy agenda.
Greg Smith, the Tory MP for Buckingham, said: “It’s no surprise Brits don’t want a more expensive solution that in many cases just won’t work.
“The Government seems determined to shackle themselves to rubbish technology rather than backing the solutions our great innovators could actually deliver.”
Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, added: “Labour’s unrealistic net zero plans are being exposed for what they are – a farce.
“Red Ed’s dangerous plans are just going to make energy and life more expensive for working British people. Only Reform is prepared to stand up to Labour’s barmy net zero plans.”
The Government wants to install 300,000 low-carbon heat pumps next year and has doubled the funding towards the subsidies scheme.
Its pursuit of net zero goals, including carbon neutrality by 2050, has led ministers to relax noise restrictions on the devices as well as lifting a limit on the size of the boxes.
While 51 per cent said they agree or strongly agree with Labour’s current net zero targets, 15 per cent said they disagree or strongly disagree.
This was not matched, however, by confidence in Sir Keir Starmer and Ed Miliband, the Energy Secretary, to make the UK “a clean energy superpower while lowering energy bills”.
Of those surveyed, 51 per cent said they did not have very much confidence or any confidence at all that the Government can achieve this mission.
Nearly a third had some confidence and 10 per cent said they had a lot of confidence.
In a further indication the Government still needs to convince people of its net zero push, 39 per cent were uninterested in having a heat pump fitted in the next five years or so, with 31 per cent interested.
The previous Tory government said it would make a decision by 2026 as to whether the existing gas network might be repurposed for hydrogen in future.
There is speculation that senior civil servants are planning to bring this decision forward but DESNZ has dismissed this as “gossip”.
A total of 14,000 heat pumps were installed between last April and this March, significantly less than the 50,000 installations that had been expected.
Around 1.5 million new gas-fired boilers were installed in the same period, mostly to replace worn out models.
Sir Keir has emphasised the importance of achieving net zero by 2050. Reform UK would tear up all green targets while Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, describes herself as a “net zero sceptic”.
A DESNZ spokesman said: “As shown by National Energy System Operator’s independent report, clean power by 2030 is achievable and will deliver a more secure energy system, which could see a lower cost of electricity and lower bills.
“Heat pumps are three times more efficient than gas boilers and we are making them more affordable to more households by providing £7,500 towards the cost, enabling families to save around £100 a year compared to a gas boiler by using a smart tariff effectively.
“We recognise there is still more to do to encourage consumers to switch to low-carbon alternatives such as heat pumps, and have recently announced plans to remove planning constraints on heat pump installations to make them easier to install.”