Contribution
I have to start by declaring an interest as the owner of a heat-pump tumble dryer. There is a real question as to who is losing the plot in this debate. I am sorry that there are not more people here interested in the issue of tumble dryers. I have become a bit of an expert over the last few days, since deciding to speak in this debate.
First, I have a question: how many tumble dryers are manufactured in the United Kingdom for domestic use? The honest answer is that specific figures for tumble-dryer manufacture in the UK are hard to come by from publicly available sources, but what is clear is something significant: there is very little domestic manufacturing to measure. The UK market is heavily reliant on imports from Turkey, China and Poland. In practice, virtually all tumble dryers sold in the UK are manufactured overseas. The major brands operating here—Bosch, Beko, Whirlpool, Electrolux, Samsung and Miele—are all produced elsewhere.
This suggests that the idea that this is some sort of Brexit issue, let alone making it about Northern Ireland, is fallacious. Even without these regulations, tumble dryers in the UK—and on both sides of the Irish Sea—will in future be the heat-pump version anyway. All this stuff from Brexiteers about being a rule-maker rather than a rule-taker is nonsense when it comes to domestic electrical equipment. The shift in European rules about such equipment that is already under way has taken the decision away from us. It is nothing to do with Brexit; it is about our position in the world economy. We do not make them. We buy them from elsewhere, and other people are not prepared to produce something that does not have a mass market. The market for condenser dryers in the UK is miniscule. These regulations simply recognise and govern the inevitable consequence of where we are.
My second question is: do we believe in net zero? I have to say I despair at the mover of the Motion’s idea that this is something about a nanny state. I and the majority of people in this country believe this is about saving the planet. To attain net zero, there are big steps we have to take in terms of power generation, but achieving our net-zero target requires myriad tiny steps. This is one of them. This is a small step on the way to saving the planet. For those of us who are concerned about the future, these regulations are an essential element in the overall policy.
The question has been raised of how significant these regulations are. Unfortunately, the regret Motion is simply wrong. It refers to
“increased costs and lower efficacy associated with heat pump tumble dryers”.
As far as cost is concerned, there are costs involved in the switch, as set out in the impact statement, but these are initial costs that are more than outweighed by the subsequent savings in running costs.
Page 9 of the impact statement sets out quite clearly:
“While costs in the early years of the policy are positive, due to the increased cost of purchasing Heat Pump tumble dryers over other technologies (around £40 on average), in later years of the policy costs turn negative as the much longer lifetime of heat pump tumble dryers mean consumers will not need to replace them as often … As energy bill savings (as well as Carbon and air quality savings) are realised across the policy lifetime, in addition to the product cost savings, overall NPV”—
net present value—
“is positive”.
I have done some research on tumble dryers. I looked at a recent edition of Which? from the Consumers’ Association. I do not think it has a particular axe to grind on this issue, and the magazine confirms the impact statement. Which? found that the heat pump versions cost less than half as much to run as the old-fashioned versions. Most tellingly, all the tumble dryers in the Which? report rated as best buys were heat pump versions. They work better, as assessed by the Consumers’ Association. I have a couple more quotes—I have got the time—from Which?:
“Heat pump tumble dryers recycle warm air for better efficiency. This makes them by far the most energy-efficient of all the tumble dryer types available”.
These are not theoretical advantages; they are there and endorsed by Which?
It appears, as the impact assessment also suggests, that the cost differential is declining. The noble Baroness, Lady Hoey, asserted there was a big cost difference but did not provide us with any figures. Well, they are all there in the Which? report. The cheapest best buy heat pump tumble dryer was £299—only £60 more than the cheapest condenser version, which had a significantly lower test score. In other words, that £60 in the figures calculated by Which? will be recouped in less than a year. Heat pump tumble dryers get higher ratings from Which? and it has assessed that they are cheaper to run within a year. I think we really need to look at this in a sensible way, rather than trying to make it a Brexit or even a Northern Ireland issue.