Authored by Dr Rowena Hay and Sabina Dewfield from Shortwork, with support from Helen at Carbon Co-op.
Towards the end of our Project Heat Pump (Socialising Flexibility) project, we brought together a cross-sector professional workshop online, facilitated collaboratively by Shortwork and Carbon Co-op. The session brought together 17 participants, including the wider Carbon Co-op team, as well as representatives from local authorities (and combined authorities), housing associations, retrofit professionals, sustainability managers, software engineers, technical officers, researchers and energy system specialists.
This diverse mix created a rare opportunity to explore heat pump deployment in social housing from multiple angles. Linking the everyday realities described by tenants with the organisational pressures, system design challenges, and technological constraints experienced by those responsible for planning, installing or managing heat pump systems.
The workshop had three main aims:
- to share emerging findings from Project Heat Pump, including monitoring and tenant research
- to explore technical, organisational and behavioural challenges affecting deployment and operation
- to gather practitioner insight to support the development of the tenant guide and inform the project’s wider recommendations on energy flexibility.
Participants split into three themed groups to explore deployment challenges, monitoring and data, and resident experience. The rest of this blog shares insights from these discussions.
Click each of the section headings to expand or collapse.
Tenant consent and engagement remain major challenges
Professionals confirmed that securing consent and maintaining trust is difficult. Tenants often feel overwhelmed by technical jargon, lack time to engage, or have experienced poorly communicated schemes in the past. Some providers noted increasing scepticism, partly driven by misinformation and wider political resistance to net-zero measures. However, we also heard examples of engagement practices and delivery processes changing positively in response to this.
Installation quality is often inconsistent and shaped by system pressures
Participants described issues caused by:
- legacy systems (e.g. hybrid setups, defunct/disconnected systems)
- poor configuration by gas-trained engineers
- limited time allowed by Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) deadlines
- procurement routes that prioritise lowest-cost delivery
- workforce shortages and limited upskilling opportunities.
Organisational capacity is stretched
Housing providers noted there is often limited internal capacity to:
- support tenants post-installation
- respond to technical faults
- interpret monitoring data
- understand flexibility markets
- provide consistent communication.
Many also referenced frustrations with planning and DNO (Distribution Network Operator) processes, especially for flats or dense estates.
Tenant consent and engagement remain major challenges
Professionals confirmed that securing consent and maintaining trust is difficult. Tenants often feel overwhelmed by technical jargon, lack time to engage, or have experienced poorly communicated schemes in the past. Some providers noted increasing scepticism, partly driven by misinformation and wider political resistance to net-zero measures. However, we also heard examples of engagement practices and delivery processes changing positively in response to this.
Installation quality is often inconsistent and shaped by system pressures
Participants described issues caused by:
- legacy systems (e.g. hybrid setups, defunct/disconnected systems)
- poor configuration by gas-trained engineers
- limited time allowed by Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) deadlines
- procurement routes that prioritise lowest-cost delivery
- workforce shortages and limited upskilling opportunities.
Organisational capacity is stretched
Housing providers noted there is often limited internal capacity to:
- support tenants post-installation
- respond to technical faults
- interpret monitoring data
- understand flexibility markets
- provide consistent communication.
Many also referenced frustrations with planning and DNO (Distribution Network Operator) processes, especially for flats or dense estates.
Participants with technical and data roles shared specific challenges around monitoring and optimisation.
Short monitoring periods limit learning
Earlier installations had extremely brief monitoring windows, and sometimes just weeks, which are too short to understand performance or identify faults. Data was rarely shared back with residents, meaning households had no feedback mechanism to adapt their behaviours.
Digital barriers are significant
Many households lack reliable broadband or 5G access, meaning cloud-connected optimisation tools or third-party controllers cannot always be deployed. Independent monitoring can also be expensive, time-consuming, and intrusive.
Better tools are emerging but integration is patchy
Some existing products targeted at housing providers were praised for their ability to:
- identify potential damp, mould and comfort issues
- provide landlords with remote visibility
- support targeted interventions.
However, participants noted uncertainties about how third-party controllers affect heat pump efficiency and weather compensation strategies. This discussion mirrored some of the tenant concerns we heard about confusing devices, broken connectivity, and not knowing whether systems were working efficiently.
Participants with technical and data roles shared specific challenges around monitoring and optimisation.
Short monitoring periods limit learning
Earlier installations had extremely brief monitoring windows, and sometimes just weeks, which are too short to understand performance or identify faults. Data was rarely shared back with residents, meaning households had no feedback mechanism to adapt their behaviours.
Digital barriers are significant
Many households lack reliable broadband or 5G access, meaning cloud-connected optimisation tools or third-party controllers cannot always be deployed. Independent monitoring can also be expensive, time-consuming, and intrusive.
Better tools are emerging but integration is patchy
Some existing products targeted at housing providers were praised for their ability to:
- identify potential damp, mould and comfort issues
- provide landlords with remote visibility
- support targeted interventions.
However, participants noted uncertainties about how third-party controllers affect heat pump efficiency and weather compensation strategies. This discussion mirrored some of the tenant concerns we heard about confusing devices, broken connectivity, and not knowing whether systems were working efficiently.
Communication and handover are issues
Tenants often receive little notice, no real choice, minimal explanation, and no follow-up. This can result in:
- fear of rising bills
- continued rationing of heat
- lack of trust in “low and slow” heating advice
- resistance to Time Of Use (TOU) tariffs (or lack of understanding about where they might be appropriate and/or possible)
- reliance on plug-in electric heaters.
Understanding remains low, even among staff
Participants emphasised that staff in housing organisations often struggle with the same concepts tenants do – especially energy flexibility and tariffs. This suggests that the learning needs are sector-wide.
Cultural and economic barriers interact strongly
Professionals highlighted:
- tenants accustomed to rationing heat struggle to adopt continuous heating
- some households rely on solid fuel systems for cultural or economic reasons
- anxiety about comfort loss restricts willingness to try optimisation techniques.
What helped: relationships and tailored support
Across organisations, the most reliable source of positive experiences were:
- skilled, friendly installers
- sustainability liaison (and resident liaison) officers
- proactive and ongoing support.
This directly echoes tenants’ stories of a single technician turning a negative experience into a positive one.
Communication and handover are issues
Tenants often receive little notice, no real choice, minimal explanation, and no follow-up. This can result in:
- fear of rising bills
- continued rationing of heat
- lack of trust in “low and slow” heating advice
- resistance to Time Of Use (TOU) tariffs (or lack of understanding about where they might be appropriate and/or possible)
- reliance on plug-in electric heaters.
Understanding remains low, even among staff
Participants emphasised that staff in housing organisations often struggle with the same concepts tenants do – especially energy flexibility and tariffs. This suggests that the learning needs are sector-wide.
Cultural and economic barriers interact strongly
Professionals highlighted:
- tenants accustomed to rationing heat struggle to adopt continuous heating
- some households rely on solid fuel systems for cultural or economic reasons
- anxiety about comfort loss restricts willingness to try optimisation techniques.
What helped: relationships and tailored support
Across organisations, the most reliable source of positive experiences were:
- skilled, friendly installers
- sustainability liaison (and resident liaison) officers
- proactive and ongoing support.
This directly echoes tenants’ stories of a single technician turning a negative experience into a positive one.
Understanding energy flexibility in social housing
The workshop then moved on to a focused discussion on how heat pumps could support system flexibility.
Professionals agreed that flexibility is possible in social housing, but constrained by:
- lack of clarity around tariffs and distrust
- low digital literacy
- limited understanding of risk/reward
- staff capacity constraints
- underheating and energy poverty
- lack of automation and interoperability.
Participants noted that many residents were comfortable with simple, highly visible events (like “Free Energy Sundays”), suggesting that active flexibility services need to be simple, predictable and well-explained.
Importantly, staff in housing associations also lack confidence with flexibility, indicating a wider need for education across the sectors.
Across all discussions, a consistent picture emerged: the difficulties tenants face, including confusion about controls, unexpected bills, frustration with installations, are not isolated incidents but symptoms of systemic sector-wide issues. Factors contributing to this includes tight funding deadlines, skills shortages, fragmented communication, inconsistent technical practice and a lack of clarity around energy flexibility.
Although this 2 year Project Heat Pump (Socialising Flexibility) now draws to a close, we will continue to share learning with the sector and look for opportunities to continue this work. For example, feeding into the activities of the National Retrofit Hub.
Carbon Co-op and Shortwork would like to thank all of the professionals who contributed to the workshop.
Image on this page are courtesy of the excellent Climate Visuals resource, a Climate Outreach project.
- Hand on radiator, with app – CC BY NC-ND 4.0 – Sam Bush / Nesta / Climate Visuals. Photographer: Sam Bush