Europe's Heat Pump Sales Climb as Electricity Taxes Fall
Home heat pump sales across 12 European countries reached 1.16 million in the first half of 2026, up from 1.05 million in the first half of 2025, according to the European Heat Pump Association (EHPA). The Guardian
The data cover Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. EHPA, led by director general Paul Kenny, released the figures on 28 September 2026.
EHPA linked the increase to high energy prices and to changes in electricity taxation in 2026. It said sales have grown in countries that cut taxes on electricity. A heat pump is an electric system that pulls heat from air or ground into a home instead of burning fuel, like a refrigerator in reverse, so demand depends heavily on electricity price.
That cost comparison shifted after Iran's effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a tight shipping lane for oil and gas, disrupted shipments. Crude oil prices reached as high as $126 a barrel in late April. That shock raised fossil heating costs and altered the running-cost balance between electric heat pumps and oil and gas boilers.
In Germany, a subsidy scheme to lower the purchase price made heat pumps the No. 1 heating technology being installed, according to EHPA.
The wider lesson here is that two supports acted together. Subsidies lowered the upfront cost, while tax cuts lowered the monthly running cost, and both shaped what households chose.
At EU level, the European Commission has published plans to encourage EU governments to lower electricity tax and to speed the shift from fossil oil and gas to renewable energy. Its electrification action plan, a blueprint for using more clean electricity, says tax on electricity should be no higher than tax on gas. The Commission had planned to publish its EU Electrification Action Plan and EU Heating and Cooling Strategy in the first quarter of 2026.
The Commission says switching to heat pumps cuts the average EU household heating bill by up to 60%. European Commission It says heat pumps are 3 to 5 times more energy efficient than gas boilers.
The broader context here is that energy security and decarbonisation now meet in the power price. The EHPA data suggest upfront grants alone do not decide uptake. The repeat cost of electricity relative to gas matters at the moment a household replaces a boiler. Tax design functions as heating policy, even when it is passed as budget or market policy.
Looking at what this means for governments, the test is durability. Tax cuts can be reversed. Subsidy funds can run out. Price spikes tied to transit chokepoints can ease. If electricity taxation rises again or fossil fuel prices fall, the running-cost edge that supported sales in the first half of 2026 could narrow. The question for the second half of the year is whether member states hold to the tax structure the Commission recommends, and whether Brussels can align electrification and heating and cooling frameworks enough to give manufacturers, installers and households a stable basis for planning.
