Households have been warned about the likely “boiler tax” which could be coming their way as part of the Government’s wider net zero plans.
However, this charge would be a small price to pay if it achieved the goal of brining down energy bills long-term.
Earlier this week, Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho revealed that the clean heat market mechanism would be delayed for at least another year.
Under this scheme, boiler makers would be required to ensure four per cent of their annual sales come from heat pumps or be hit with penalties.
This has been proposed to encourage the wider industry to embrace sufficient ways of providing energy and heating to homes.
Advocates of heat pumps and other environmentally-friendly technologies have cited that these devices are essential in reducing household energy costs.
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Experts are warning about the "boiler tax" but is a tax worth paying?
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However, boiler manufacturers have suggested the cost of any potential fines they accumulate could be passed onto consumers.
This has been referred to as the “boiler tax” with the Energy and Utilities Alliance suggesting families could pay an extra £200 from next year.
The recent U-turn of the Government is a blow to net zero campaigners with consumer rights groups also criticising the Energy Secretary’s reasoning.
Coutinho reportedly wants to make sure households who do not have an alternative to a gas boiler are not penalised by the transition’s costs.
While this is noble, it is ultimately a short-sighted move by a Government which has a habit for kicking the can down the road when it comes the country’s most urgent matters.
The UK desperately needs to produce its own affordable energy for its own citizens and a matter of national security.
In the last two years, families have been their energy bills skyrocket due to pressures on the wholesale energy market and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.
Despite the nation adapting to the financial consequences of this conflict on their energy bills, other geopolitical frictions such as the Houthi attacks in the Red Sea could cause costs to spike once again.
Relying on appliances, such as heat pumps, would allow Britain to become fully energy dependant and make us stronger on the world state, on top of offering consumers significant savings.
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Energy bill payers have been forced to pay more in recent years PAHeat pumps could potentially save families anything between 10 per cent to 41 per cent on their energy expenditure depending on the age of your current oil boiler, Good Energy claims.
The Government has already launched the Boiler Upgrade Scheme to help homes with the installation costs of replacing gas boilers with heat pumps.
Furthermore, a target has been set to install 600,000 of these money-saving appliances by 2028 which is unlikely to be met.
Policymakers need to be honest and serious about tackling this country’s energy bill crisis or families will be trapped in a viscous cycle of significant price hikes and drops for the foreseeable future.