This charge is claimed to be around £30 a year on gas bills
UK households with gas boilers have been warned over a new green levy to help make the switch to heat pumps.
This idea, which would subsidise the cost of heat pumps for homeowners, is reportedly on the cards for Ed Miliband and his £15 billion Warm Homes Plan.
This charge is claimed to be around £30 a year on gas bills, according to the Daily Express.
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The levy is yet to be confirmed, but it would make part of the Energy Secretary’s flagship homes and insulation drive in the new year.
Green energy entrepreneur and Labour donor Dale Vince, warned: “It impacts the people that can least afford their bills, let alone dream of a heat pump.
“If you get a government subsidy for a heat pump, you still need to find £7,000 yourself.
“[The government thinks] if we start putting up the gas bills of everybody, so that a few people can have heat pumps, we’ll make heat pumps more economic. I just think that’s wrong.”
However, Jack Richardson, head of policy at Octopus Energy, said it’s “the biggest moves in the right direction in 20 years”.
Some of the proposals being discussed include:
- Low-or zero-interest loans for solar panels
- Continued subsidies for heat pumps until the end of the parliament
- Grants for poorer households
- Funding for councils to invest in local energy schemes
A government spokesman said: “This is speculation. We are investing an additional £1.5 billion into our Warm Homes Plan, taking it to nearly £15 billion – the biggest ever public investment to upgrade homes and tackle fuel poverty.
“We are doubling down on support for home upgrades and will set out our plans to help households, and support thousands more clean energy jobs, soon.”
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