As part of the Homes as Energy Systems (HAES) project, Manchester City Council replaced an inefficient gas communal boiler system with a shared loop GSHP (SLGHSP) system at Liverton Court in 2020. The installation included a shared ground array and individual GSHP units to 70 flats in the block.

The HAES project is delivering an estimated 1,000 low carbon interventions in social housing across Greater Manchester and it’s part funded by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) through the 2014-2020 England Operational Programme. Working together with Procure Plus as the lead partner, the University of Salford, Kraken Flex, and Stockport Housing Group as strategic delivery partners, HaES aims to bring down the cost of retrofit and low carbon interventions in the sector.

The Liverton Court Scheme was completed on 4 December 2020, and over one year of data from the Uplink monitoring system has been analysed to understand the impact of the new Ground Source Heat pumps had on tenants’ bills. Of the 69 flats included in the analysis, data has been cleansed to only include those tenants paying at least £100 a year for heating costs prior to the intervention. This was to account for any previous occurrences of faulty readings.

Results from these 35 flats include:*

Some customers are saving:

• 43% are saving money compared to previous heating bills (15)
• 47% of these are saving over £90 a year (7)
• 27% of these saving over £145 a year (4)
• On average, the saving is £7.56 per month, or £90.77 over the year

Some customers are spending more money but with increased quality and reliability:

Despite spending more in comparison with previous bills, some residents have said they are happier with the heat pump installation as it is more reliable than the previous heating system. Others have commented that they prefer a high temperature in their homes, and are happy to pay extra for this.

• 57% of residents are spending more money than previous (20)
• 40% of these are spending over £10 a month more on heating (8)
• On average, customers are spending £10.10 more a month on heating, or £121 over the year

What is Northwards doing to help those spending more?

• An energy advisor arranged to meet with high consumers (including 5 of those spending over £10/month extra) to understand the situation and give advice.
• Remedying actions have included:

1. Showing residents how to change settings while at work/on holiday
2. Showing residents how to alter the set temperature
3. Providing information on Warm Home Discount
4. Engaging with residents to ensure they are happy with current energy provider

To download the full PDF case study, please click here.