Rewarding the self-control of heat pumps – towards a fair comparison of heat pump efficiency

Peer-reviewed paper 8-249-26

In the context of rising energy costs and energy security concerns, it is critical that new appliances and equipment placed on the market meet high efficiency standards. This is particularly important for heat pumps – a key technology in the European Union’s (EU) electrification and decarbonisation strategy.

In the new EU space heating regulations, a requirement was made that the evaluation of efficiency should be closer to expected real-life behaviour, since the current methodology presents serious shortcomings, including its lack of representativeness. Conscious that this test method needed improvement, the European Commission (EC) decided to shift towards a more representative load-based test approach: the compensation method.

This paper summarises the shortcomings of the current testing methodology and provides solutions based on years of development and laboratory verification of the load-based methodology, as well as technical background information, where appropriate. Differences between real-life operation and laboratory performance using different methodologies are assessed and implication on EU product policy discussed.

The proposed solutions within the load-based methodology are discussed in the light of the latest draft Regulation available (March 2026). It shows a significant improvement compared to current status of standardised test procedures but also reveals some areas where improvements would be important to ensure a high level of representativeness.