Five reasons why government heat plans will get a frosty reception with rural homeowners
George Webb, CEO of Liquid Gas UK looks at the Heat and Buildings Strategy and what it offers to the UK’s rural homeowners.
Around 2 million rural homeowners in the UK could be penalised if the government fails to adapt its current plans proposed for off-grid homes and businesses in the Heat and Buildings Strategy. Under proposals, rural households face the unrealistic challenge of switching to low carbon heat solutions such as heat pumps, should their current system fail after 2026, with large businesses having an even earlier deadline of 2024.
Why does the Heat and Buildings Strategy fail to deliver for rural people?
As the trade organisation for the UK’s LPG sector, we believe there are five key reasons why the Heat and Buildings Strategy will penalise rural people, simply because of where they live.
1. Unsuitable measures for rural, older and heritage buildings – The way in which the majority of rural buildings have been constructed and their lack of insulation can make retrofitting electrified technology very expensive or practically challenging, without achieving real heating benefits
2. Unaffordable costs for rural off-grid households and businesses – The cost of a new heat pump alone can range between approximately £11,000 – £18,000. For a typical pre-1945 solid wall rural property, the installation of a heat pump system would be expected to cost around £18,270. Some four million households in Britain are off-grid and around half of these are in rural areas, where fuel poverty rates are highest . To add to this, a recent poll showed 95% of rural households cannot afford to install a heat pump. So, to expect rural homes and businesses to bear the cost of a heat pump is not realistic
3. Supply chain capability – Heat pumps will cause a significant rise in demand for electricity consumption on the local network, especially when coupled with demand for electricity to power electric vehicles. We also need to consider the availability of trained installers
4. A fair transition – Targeting off-grid consumers first and expecting them to face the highest costs, before households on the mains gas network, is unfair and unjust. This goes against key commitments from the UK Government in its energy white paper
5. Consumer choice – The Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) estimates there are 100,000 rural, off-grid businesses in England that rely on high-carbon fossil fuels for their heat and wider energy needs
The UK Government should recognise this diversity by supporting a range of low-carbon heating and cost options on the transition to Net Zero and ensure that consumers will have a choice between these, including bioLPG and hybrid heat pumps.
Offering a solution for rural heating
As an industry, we’re already gearing up for a low carbon future and are calling for government to support a mix of technologies and not take a ‘one-size fits all’ approach.
LPG should be a part of the future energy mix alongside other low carbon technologies. Switching to LPG can reduce oil or solid fuel heated households’ carbon footprint by 12% and 33% respectively.
bioLPG is also a sustainable alternative for rural homeowners, offering up to 90% carbon emissions reduction as a 100% renewable energy source. This ‘drop-in’ fuel can be used with LPG, or alone, in all existing LPG infrastructure and appliances i.e. boilers, tanks, cylinders, ovens – so no costly changes would be needed. The UK’s LPG industry is transitioning to be 100% renewable by 2040 with bioLPG.
We will continue to engage closely with industry and government on the Heat and Buildings Strategy over the course of the year to represent the views of those who will be affected. The formal response and outcome to the consultation are expected in the Autumn.
For more information on Liquid Gas UK visit: liquidgasuk.org
