By Louise Howlett, Commercial Director – R A Brown Heating Services.
Whatever term you use for it ‘golden triangle’, ‘holy trinity’, or if you expand out to a cluster of five renewable quintessential including; EV charger and off-peak tariffs, these combined installations are vital to successfully sell heat pumps in the UK.
There are significant pros and cons in the UK renewables market – the major con being high electricity prices and the pro being off peak electricity tariffs – this knocks on to getting smart around when a homeowner buys their electricity needed to run their heat pump optimising the lowest running cost for the system.
Case study of award-winning golden triangle project
In 2025 we won an ACR & Heat Pump Award for a ‘golden triangle’ project. Our customers, Diana and Alun, wanted to achieve what they termed their ‘green project’. They live in a 50-year-old riverside townhouse in Norwich. Having bought the property ten years previously, an upgrade project had already been completed, including triple glazed windows and improved insulation. To give some perspective when the couple bought the property it had an EPC rating of E, following the upgrades it achieved EPC C. The property still had a gas boiler.
Next step
Embarking on the ‘green project’ in 2024 the property owners had very clear objectives; install solar PV on the roof, battery storage in the garage and an air source heat pump in the compact garden to the rear of the property. Part of the project included upgrading the internal garage with a new door and insulation – this space was to be utilised as a plant room and the location for the batteries.
Diana, took on the role of project manager and called a meeting in the garage – gathering the garage door contractor, the electrician and R A Brown’s engineer – the positioning of all of the equipment was measured out with millimetre precision.
This was an extremely successful strategy as not only did all of the equipment fit but the functionality of the space was retained – shelving was built and the boat that is stored in the garage still had its home.
Returning to the aim of this couple’s project, which was really three pronged:
- Get rid of gas – decarbonisation
- Reduce household bills to as near zero as possible
- Achieve an EPC rating of A for a retrofit project
By combining all of these technologies with the fabric improvements all three goals were achieved – Diana gave me an update for publication in my book (Warm Wisdom: A Stress-Free Guide to Finding and Fitting the Right Heat Pump for Your Home) In October 2025 she said: “Since the initial project was completed we have had three more batteries, another inverter and ten more solar panels installed (on the front of the house), and our monthly bill has gone down from £70 to a notional £1 – the house effectively pays us to heat and light it! “We have had the heat pump tumble dryer since last November, and we like it a lot.”
Lessons we are learning from consumer behaviour
With electricity prices remaining high compared with mains gas it is natural that motivation to switch to a heat pump rises significantly when a homeowner begins to be interested in micro-generation of electricity and the benefits of storing electricity. One of the common triggers is getting an EV – the idea of harnessing free fuel via solar panels is attractive and this creates a cascade effect.
Once a homeowner has invested in solar PV and batteries the direction of travel is clear; awareness is raised to the potential of creating their own energy security and low bills.
Celebrating recognition of our achievements
The ACR & Heat Pump Awards provide an opportunity for us to showcase the projects and collaborative work that we have worked on. This year we were delighted to win an award for a different type of project: a commercial air source heat pump project.
It was an installation that we completed at a school for disabled children. After several years of planning, it came to fruition with an incredibly old boiler being replaced by four air source heat pump units.
This is an area of business development for us – moving into what we call small commercial work that fits with our work on the rural estates and halls in Norfolk and Suffolk. We feel this type of work utilises our skills. It is also more achievable for us to compete for this ‘high end’ work. I’m sure we’re not the only established ‘artisan’ installer that feels winning work for normal homeowners in the able to pay market is quite difficult now compared to in the RHI era. All kinds of business costs have increased so sharply including training apprentices. This is another reason why winning national awards gives us increased credibility and hence added ‘value’. For homeowners venturing into a new to them technology, trust is so vital and winning awards helps to provide the external validation.
