The Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS)
Committee has called on the Government to significantly
scale up its plans to install heat pumps in homes across the
UK.
The Committee today (18 May) publishes the Government’s response
to its report (see document attached) into decarbonising the way
we heat homes, which included recommendations on how
ministers can succeed in their goal of seeing 600,000 new heat
pumps installed per year by 2028.
The Government has accepted a number of the Committee’s
recommendations, including tasking Ofgem with regulating heat
networks, where groups of properties share one heating system. In
its report the Committee highlighted consumer complaints about
heat network suppliers and called for this form of heating to be
regulated in the same way as other traditional heating suppliers,
such as gas companies. The Queen’s Speech announced that this
will be done in the upcoming Energy Security Bill.
The Government also accepted the need to train more workers
and confirmed that “7,000 training opportunities will be created
per year” thanks to Skills Bootcamps, run in collaboration with
local government, for people to work in the energy-efficiency and
low carbon heating supply chains.
However, whilst the Government agreed with the Committee that
improving energy efficiency in homes will be an important “driver
for decarbonisation” it did not come forward with any new
proposals.
, Chair of the BEIS
Committee, said:
“With the cost of everything from food to electricity, gas
and petrol going up, and with further energy price rises due in
October, the Government must supercharge its efforts to
decarbonise the way we heat our homes to help reduce bills and
carbon emissions.
“However, the Future Homes Standard - which will
require housing developers to better insulate new homes and
install low carbon heating systems - will still not come into
effect until 2025. This will put many new homeowners and tenants
in the scandalous position where they have a new home but will be
asked to fork out thousands of pounds to do the work that the
developer should have done in the first place.
“For people living in properties that currently exist,
ministers still haven’t dealt with the energy elephant in the
room and brought forward a scheme that is open to all homeowners
and tenants who need to insulate their homes and use less energy.
This must be dealt with urgently.
“Ridiculously, the fact that home insulation needs to be
completed before you can apply for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme
means that many households won’t be able to access the voucher
schemes already announced by Ministers in the first
place.”
ENDS
Editor’s notes:
· Please note that in the
document attached, sections in bold type are the Committee’s own
recommendations and sections that follow in plain type are the
Government’s responses.
· The press release that
accompanied the Committee’s Decarbonising Heat in Homes report is
available here.
· The press release that
accompanied the launch of this inquiry is available here.
· The Government’s main
policy proposals for decarbonising homes were published in
its Heat and Buildings
Strategy.
· The Government’s proposals
on heat networks were included in its Energy Security
Strategy.
