Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is planning to ban new oil boilers and introduce air-source heat pumps in off-grid homes from 2026.
The ban would impact the houses that are not connected to the gas grid and would see rural homes face these restrictions about 10 years before other UK homes face bans.
However, fuel-poverty campaigners and some Conservative MPs are worried about how the plan will financially impact the 1.7 million rural homes in Britain and, subsequently, if it will put people off from supporting the Tories.
According to the Energy Saving Trust, installing an oil boiler usually costs up to £4,000 while an air-source heat pump costs around £14,000 and a ground-source heat pump can cost up to £49,000 based on the type of installation. There are also worries about the lack of trained engineers to install these non-oil-using heating alternatives.
Today, on Tuesday, August 8, Tory MP George Eustice has written in the Daily Telegraph listing all his concerns, likening the plans to having “their own version of the Ulez dumped on” those living in rural homes.
The former Environment Secretary said: “They should call off the ban on the sale of boilers and pursue a different strategy, which would be to properly incentivise renewable fuels in those boilers.”
One suggestion he came up with was to convert existing kerosene boilers to run on hydrotreated vegetable oil made from waste cooking oil or vegetable waste, which he said would cost just “a couple of hundred pounds” to do. This way, he claimed, carbon emissions would be reduced by 88 per cent for a fraction of the cost.
Mr Eustice also said that instead of committing to technologies now, the Government should let innovation continue to take place so new solutions supporting the country’s net-zero goals can be discussed.
The Tory MP’s comments were supported by the Country Land and Business Association, which said 2026 was nearly a decade too early for the ban and that starting this change with rural homes was “targeting the highest-hanging fruit first”.
