Greater Manchester’s 5G Heat Pump Project: Benefits for Residents

Last year, the GMCA secured £3 million through the Government’s 5G Innovation Regions competition. This funding supports innovative projects across Greater Manchester, aiming to accelerate decarbonisation and improve quality of life. As part of this initiative, we are working with councils, housing, and industry partners to invest in local projects.

One of our key projects involves connecting existing air source heat pumps in social housing using 5G technology. This connection offers several benefits for you as a resident. By linking the heat pumps, we can enable remote monitoring and fault diagnostics, which means quicker and more efficient maintenance. This reduces the number of maintenance visits needed, making your experience with heat pumps smoother and more convenient.

With the heat pumps connected, we can track their performance more closely, improving efficiency and helping to manage heating patterns. This can lead to lower fuel bills for you. Additionally, the 5G connection opens up opportunities for new energy tariffs designed specifically for heat pumps. These tariffs can offer significant savings compared to standard variable rate tariffs.

There are two main types of heat pump tariffs:

• Time-of-use tariffs: Electricity prices vary depending on the time of day, offering cheaper rates for running the heat pump during certain periods. These tariffs usually require a smart meter but do not need the heat pump to be connected to the internet.
• Type-of-use tariffs: Electricity prices vary based on what is using the electricity. For heat pump tariffs, the electricity needed to power the heat pump is tracked and charged at a lower rate, while the rest of the household’s electricity consumption remains at the standard rate. These tariffs typically require the heat pump to be connected to the internet to track its consumption levels.

Many residents are not yet aware of these specific heat pump tariffs, and this engagement is a crucial part of our ongoing efforts to inform you about the benefits. For example, switching to Ovo’s ‘Heat Pump Plus’ tariff could save up to £245 per year on heating bills compared to their standard variable tariff.

Where do I start?

Below is a list of heat pump-specific tariffs to explore. Please note that these are not recommendations, but a starting point for your exploration. These tariffs are constantly changing and may quickly become outdated. For those participating in the 5GIR project, we will provide follow-up engagement about tariffs once the heat pumps are connected.