BOILERS & HOT WATER
Why the UK needs a hot water strategy
Paul Ravnbo-West, market development manager at Triton Showers, discusses why hot water decarbonisation must not be overlooked and outlines a scalable solution to driving crucial water and energy savings
T
he direction of both the incoming Future Homes Standard and the recent consultation on updating Part G of the building regulations is clear: homes must consume less energy and water. It sounds straightforward, right? The Warm Homes Plan, published in January, adopts a similar stance, dedicating £15 billion to helping households decarbonise and cut energy bills by adopting a trio of low-carbon technologies: heat pumps, solar PV and batteries. While generally transformative in intent, the
plan overlooks the need to reduce hot water consumption, which accounts for a significant proportion of domestic energy use.
The rising role of hot water
Despite the challenges associated with heat pumps, their uptake will continue to increase, decarbonising space heating. This will make hot water the primary energy load in homes, which begs the question: why is it not directly treated as a first-order challenge in the Warm Homes Plan? Even where the plan recognises that two-thirds of building emissions come from space heating and
hot water, the policy instruments overwhelmingly target the former, with hot water relegated to the background as a secondary load. There is no equivalent of a hot water strategy, no demand-side framing and no recognition that how hot water is generated can radically change peak loads, infrastructure requirements and household costs. Hot water shouldn’t be viewed as a subset of heat, and if the Warm Homes Plan fails to address this measurably and with equal fairness, the solutions available will remain invisible in the national narrative.
The electric shower case
As the largest domestic consumer of water and accountable for generating half of hot water demand, showers are a strong candidate for crucial savings. Instantaneous electric showers (IES) provide instant hot water, decoupling it from space heating, which eliminates standing losses and saves on space, energy and running costs. Connecting an IES to a wastewater heat recovery
system (WWHRS) also presents a passive way to make additional gains. A WWHRS captures heat from shower wastewater, which is normally lost down the drain, and uses it to preheat the incoming cold mains water to the shower. Independent analysis undertaken by Talan estimates significant savings could be made from deploying this innovative shower system. It predicts annual energy use can be cut by up to 82.3%, water consumption by 45.7% and carbon emissions by 75.6%, compared to one of today’s conventional eight-litre-per-minute mixer showers. Additionally, a whopping £145 could be saved in annual running costs.
This is especially of use to hard-to-treat homes and households facing fuel poverty that face barriers when fitting heat pumps and hot water cylinders, such as flats and terraced houses, where cost, space and technical constraints limit retrofit options.
Unlocking hot water decarbonisation
Triton’s latest report, “Hot Water Down the Drain: Unlocking Hot Water Decarbonisation Through the Warm Homes Plan”, calls on the government to include these technologies within major retrofit and energy efficiency funding schemes, namely
26 April 2026
the Warm Homes: Social Housing Fund and Warm Homes: Local Grant. If adopted, they could produce up to 1,042 tonnes of CO2e savings in their first year and between 818 and 902 million litres of potable water savings over the next decade. This translates to a potential 87.5% reduction in shower-related emissions, compared to traditional mixer showers, by 2035. Annual energy and water bills could also fall by up to £145 per household, with further lifetime savings delivered through lower maintenance and long-term operating costs. To decarbonise hot water, there are several policy actions that must be taken. These include integrating hot water decarbonisation into the UK’s net-zero strategy and incentivising consumers and housebuilders to invest in efficient shower technologies to meet upcoming water-use limits. Policymakers must also update EPC methodologies (SAP/RdSAP) to recognise IES and those designed to connect to WWHRS. Removing green levies from household electricity from April 2026 will help reduce average bills by approximately £150 per year and is a good first step to support switching to low-carbon, electric-based systems.
Futureproofing while saving
As the nation strives towards Net Zero, it’s crucial that the role of hot water isn’t overlooked. Electric showers are a simple, scalable and cost-effective solution to lower emissions, water usage and household bills. If actioned, these recommendations can play an important role in both futureproofing housing stock and providing tangible savings to households today.
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