Next month, the Government will be unveiling a new “heat and buildings strategy” at the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow. The strategy will reportedly see the Government cut the price of electricity and impose a levy on gas bills to fund low-carbon heating, according to The Times. The move is aimed to “incentivise” households to buy cleaner energy.
The strategy is part of the Government’s vow to bring all greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050, and to produce “clean power” by 2035.
Earlier this week, Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng claimed that decarbonising the UK’s power supply would ensure Britons are not as exposed to changes in the fossil fuel market.
Whitehall sources suggested that costs would not increase as the levies on electricity bills would be reduced at the same time as those on gas increase.
An insider claimed: “This is about shifting the incentive towards cleaner energy.”
“It will take place over a period of years and overall bills will remain static.
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The latest news on gas boilers has left some Britons outraged, with some individuals taking to social media site Twitter to air their grievances.
Twitter user @Jaxon_000 said: “So we’re only just managing to pay the mortgage or rent & bills & now we’re going to be taxed more because we’re using a gas boiler or fork out £10,000 (which we don’t have) for a heat pump? Must be nice to be rich.”
Another user who goes by the name @alphafoxtrot33 said: “These heat pumps won’t cut it at the moment.
“It would be easier and cheaper to remove the gas boiler and radiators and fit standard electric heaters.
“Perhaps have a solar system to help out.”
Meanwhile, Twitter user Robert Newton said: “There are some massive problems ahead with domestic heating.
“There are 27 million homes in the UK for which a heat pump will not be a viable replacement for a gas boiler.
“The maximum water temperature output is 65C at very best.
“Too low for a conventional radiator system.”
Twitter user Xenomorph said: “Madness, if you rent and have a gas boiler you are helpless.
“Yet again the poorer in the country will be paying for Boris’s vanity project. Not forgetting that many power stations run on gas?”
Prime Minister Boris Jonson has now decided not to fine households who do not remove their gas boilers after 2035.
Gas boilers have already been banned from new builds by 2025.
Around one seventh of the UK’s total emissions come from gas boilers but around 85 percent of homes rely on gas for heating.
Some ministers have said removing gas boilers from around 25 million UK homes could take 10 years.
It comes as energy bills for millions of UK households rose by £139 at the start of October thanks to the new price cap.
The price hike has been caused by surging wholesale gas prices.
In recent weeks, nine energy suppliers have gone bust with millions of customers now dependant on Ofgem’s price cap.
However, there are now concerns that energy bills across the UK could rise by £400 per year.
Research agency Cornwall Insight has said unpredictable gas prices could push the price cap up to £1,660 next summer – £400 higher than the current £1,277 price cap.
A spokesman for the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy told the Times: “We’ll set out our upcoming heat and buildings strategy shortly. No decisions have been made.”
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