The claim was made because of something the PR agency had on its website promoting its work. EUA made it clear at the time that no such campaign was funded.

The PR agency apologised to Mike Foster, CEO of EUA for their error and wrote to the Minister too, explaining the mistake on their part. There has never been a “misinformation campaign” against heat pumps, despite what some suggest.

EUA has appointed a new PR agency to support its work and is working notice with its out-going PR agency.

Email to Lord Callanan from PR agency:

From: Jane Ainsworth Sent: Monday, July 24, 2023 3:56 PM To: Minister.Callanan@energysecurity.gov.uk Subject: FAO Lord Callanan

Dear Lord Callanan

I am Managing Director of WPR, the agency working with Mike Foster of the EUA in support of its media relations activity.

I am acutely aware of the current controversy surrounding our work for the EUA, in particular a claim we “sparked outrage” over heat pumps.

I have investigated how this happened and, as Mike Foster of the EUA has confirmed, sparking outrage was never our brief. A case study was posted on our website without client approval, which goes against our values and strict processes as an agency. Lessons will be learned from this and we have apologised to Mike profusely for our mistake.

Our role for the EUA is to support the organisation in its mission to shape the UK’s decarbonisation policy, whilst being mindful of affordability and security of supply.

 Yours sincerely 

Jane Ainsworth