Hardly a quarter of new Flemish construction chooses a heat pump | local

Although the share of new homes equipped with a heat pump is growing, of all the new homes for which an EPB was filed this year, barely one in four used a heat pump installation. The vast majority of new Flemish homes are still connected to natural gas.

In major energy renovations, the share of heat pumps is slightly lower at 23 percent. The fact that renovators are more likely to choose gas boilers is also demonstrated by the outstanding orders placed for the MyVerbouwPremie single meter. Orders for gas condensing boilers outnumber orders for heat pumps month after month.

However, a general ban is imminent. To reduce the use of fossil fuels for heating, Flanders will ban new natural gas connections for all new buildings from 2025. The phase-out plan has been in effect since 2021.

Elsewhere in Europe, heat pump deployment is accelerating, De Teege writes. This is because Flanders imposed numerous taxes on your electricity bill, making electricity here more expensive than in neighboring countries.

According to sellers and installers, the combination of the low price of gas, relatively high investment costs and a long payback period also hinders the growth of heat pumps in Flanders. The energy crisis led to a temporary shift in favor of heat pumps, but this faded as gas prices returned to normal.