European heat pump sales rise as electricity costs shape adoption

European residential heat pump sales rose to 1.16 million across 12 countries in the first half of 2026, from 1.05 million a year earlier, according to European Heat Pump Association figures reported by The Guardian. The increase of about 10.5% puts household heating choices back in focus as governments weigh the cost of electricity against gas.

The reported total covers Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Sweden. It is a combined figure for those markets, rather than a measure of sales across every European country. The available figures do not show how much each country contributed to the overall increase.

Prices and policy

The Guardian reported that oil and gas prices rose after the Iran war disrupted energy shipments. It also reported the heat pump association's view that higher energy prices and electricity tax changes helped lift sales. The available evidence does not separate the effect of those factors, so the increase cannot be assigned to a particular tax cut or to the rise in fossil fuel prices.

Electricity prices matter because heat pumps move heat rather than produce it by burning fuel. The cost of running one therefore depends in part on the price a household pays for electricity relative to gas. Paul Kenny, the association's director general, called for lower taxes on electricity and said the European Commission had made that policy direction clear. His comments set out the industry's position, not a measured explanation for the entire sales rise.

The Commission estimates that replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump can cut an average EU household's heating bill by up to 60%. That is its estimate for an average household, not a saving established for every home. The amount any household pays depends on its circumstances and energy prices, which is why the electricity and gas price gap remains central to the policy debate.

German sales offer a separate view

Germany's heating industry reported a strong first half of its own. According to the Bundesverband der Deutschen Heizungsindustrie, manufacturers sold 194,500 heating heat pumps in Germany from January through June 2026, a 40% increase from the same period in 2025. Heat pumps accounted for more than half of the 352,000 heat generators sold across the German market, which grew 19% overall.

The German figures describe sales of heating equipment in one national market. They provide context for the European report but do not independently verify the association's 12-country residential total. The German industry group also cautioned that overall heating equipment sales remained below levels reached in earlier years. It said the pace of modernising building heating was still too slow, despite the first-half increase.

What the figures leave open

The European total establishes a year-on-year rise for the countries covered, but the underlying association release was not available for this account. Detailed country comparisons and quarterly figures therefore cannot be drawn from it here. Nor do the reported totals quantify whether tax changes, higher oil and gas prices or other conditions made the largest difference. That distinction matters for governments considering changes to energy bills: a rise in sales alongside a policy shift does not by itself measure the policy's effect.