Up to 150,000 boilers still need replacing in Czechia, companies expect a surge after summer

Replacement of non-compliant boilers in Czech households is still lagging. According to estimates, there are still up to 150,000 non-eco-friendly boilers in Czechia that must be replaced by September. Manufacturers say demand for replacements has gradually increased since the end of the heating season, but owners often plan to replace their boilers only towards the end of summer. They therefore expect a surge in demand after the summer holidays. Around 60,000 boilers should be replaced by the end of the year. Zdeněk Lyčka, president of the Association of Heating Technology Companies, told the Czech News Agency (ČTK). A survey found that more than half of owners have still not requested quotes from companies for a replacement.

From 1 September, the operation of boilers in Czechia that do not meet the requirements for emissions class 3 or higher will be banned. Fines for heating with a non-eco-friendly boiler can reach 50,000 crowns and may be imposed repeatedly.

„The first half of this year saw very few old solid-fuel boilers in classes 1 and 2 replaced,“ Lyčka said.

According to the association’s estimates, households replaced around 10,000 non-compliant boilers in the first half of the year. „So, by our estimate, more than 200,000 boilers in this category have yet to be replaced, including 140,000 to 150,000 boilers that are the main source of heating,“ Lyčka noted.

According to information from the association, around half of the owners of old boilers want to deal with replacing them next year or later. „Many of them remain highly uncertain about which new heating source to choose, so they are taking the remaining time to think it over. A large proportion of non-compliant boilers are already nearing the end of their service life. Many are used by elderly people, who often say they expect both themselves and their boiler to last out their remaining years, or by people on lower incomes who cannot afford to cover the remaining replacement costs, even with subsidies,“ Lyčka described the situation. Even so, he said, increased media pressure on owners had prompted significantly more people to replace their boilers than would have done so otherwise. „The number of non-compliant boilers has fallen significantly in recent years,“ he added.

A survey by Stiebel Eltron also confirmed that replacements are progressing very slowly: more than half of owners of non-compliant boilers have still not requested a replacement.

„More than 15 percent of solid-fuel boiler owners are still unaware of the impending ban. However, compared with the end of May this year, this is at least a slight improvement of a few percentage points, as more than 18 percent of respondents were unaware of the ban then,“ said David Šafránek, head of the technical department at Stiebel Eltron, commenting on the survey results.

According to the survey, which involved 1,100 respondents in early August, modern solid-fuel boilers are the most popular choice among people who have already arranged a replacement. A quarter of them have ordered one. Another quarter, by contrast, are considering a more modern gas boiler. More than a fifth of households that need to replace their heating source are considering installing a heat pump, according to the survey. Only a tenth are considering a more efficient electric boiler.