US Edition
A ban on new oil boilers in rural homes from 2026 would be “unfair and unreasonable”, a leading heat pump lobby group has admitted.
Bean Beanland, of the Heat Pump Federation, which has more than 100 members and advises the Government, said the ban should be delayed.
“To be honest, 2026 is probably looking to be, in most people’s eyes, an unfair and unreasonable timeframe in which to make the change,” he said.
The Government has proposed a ban on the installation of new oil boilers in off-grid homes from 2026. It is backing heat pumps as the main alternative.
But it has yet to actually bring the change into law, leaving households and the wider industry little time to prepare for the switchover.
Mr Beanland said more time was needed to allow for changes to come in, including for running costs to come down and public acceptance to increase.
He called for a delay until 2028.
“Two years to react to something that’s relatively fundamental isn’t really long enough,” he said.
The Government is working on long-awaited reforms to the electricity markets, which it is hoped will bring down heat pump running costs.
There is also a shortage of grid capacity and delays in connections are already affecting heat pump installations in some areas.
There are 1.7 million homes in the UK that are not connected to the gas grid.
The vast majority are in rural areas and use relatively expensive and high-polluting fuels including oil, coal and liquefied petroleum gas to provide heating.
Tory MPs have raised concerns that a ban could leave households in their constituencies unable to afford to switch, or forced to use heat pumps despite concerns over their efficiency and running costs.
On Wednesday, more MPs joined calls to scrap or delay the ban after George Eustice, the former environment secretary, labelled it a “rural Ulez”.
Sir Edward Leigh, the MP for Gainsborough, said: “It’s completely madness to have a sort of rapid phase-out of these oil boilers. It’s very expensive, putting in a heat pump.
“And then you’re in a remote rural location, you may have to change your windows as well, you may have to change your radiators. It’s a countryside Ulez, and we’ve just got to delay this.”
Christopher Chope, who sits on the environmental audit committee, said the policy was “completely disproportionate”.
“Most people will choose a fuel-efficient means of heating their home and that’s very sensible,” he said.
“But to be dictated to, which is what we’re talking about, that is where the growing resentment and resistance is coming from.”
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former business and energy secretary, said: “It’s a really silly policy. You’re talking, in rural areas, of communities that aren’t particularly well-off being expected to pay out significant amounts of money which they’re not going to have.
“It’s rural areas that get hit. A lot of my constituents are not on the gas grid and we’ve developed these net zero policies without thinking through the cost.
“Now we’ve got to think through the cost and when we do that, we’ll realise they’re not the answer.
“Whatever we do makes not a jot of difference to global warming. The UK could shut down tomorrow completely and it still won’t make any difference and this idea we’re a global leader is for the birds.
“I would cancel the ban and I’d revisit the whole approach to net zero. You allow technology to work out how to let you get cleaner energy and then you let the market decide.”
Delay ‘inevitable’
Green groups have also accepted that a delay to the ban is now necessary.
“The Government consulted on a 2026 fossil heating phase-out timeline for off-grid homes back in 2021, but never issued a response to the consultation,” said Juliet Phillips, from think tank E3G.
“Over the two-year period since then, the Conservatives have done nothing to provide rural homes and businesses the clarity or support necessary to meet this timeline.
“Therefore, delay to this regulation has long been inevitable.”
On Tuesday, it emerged that the Government was now considering changes that would allow households to install new oil boilers as long as they run on greener fuels, The Telegraph understood.
Existing oil boilers can be converted to run on biofuels, such as hydrotreated vegetable oil, which backers say cut emissions by up to 90 per cent.
Mr Eustice is supporting an amendment to the Energy Bill, which is expected to return to Parliament for final sign-off in the autumn. The suggested change would mean biofuels are effectively subsidised to encourage people to make the switch.
However, there are concerns about the cost and environmental impact of biofuels, which are already in high demand for transport.