BEIS poised to shift policy costs onto gas bills.

[Deleted User]

Gas prices may not come down anytime soon. 

BEIS poised to shift policy costs onto gas bills

There are reports this morning of a major policy pivot by the government, which is said to be about to announce that green levies will be moved from electricity to gas bills.

This explains what the Government has been consulting on:

https://wearecitizensadvice.org.uk/an-electrifying-problem-684a30a72780

Verdigris

I must have been clairvoyant when I decided to buy an all-leccy house.!

It actually makes more sense if we are to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. (has the government been abducted by aliens?)

brewerdave

But Govt ministers better prepare themselves for the stream of little old ladies dying of hypothermia because they won't dare put their gas fire on this Winter if they allow this to happen!!

Verdigris

Let them eat coal!

[Deleted User]

Verdigris said:

I must have been clairvoyant when I decided to buy an all-leccy house.!

It actually makes more sense if we are to wean ourselves off fossil fuels. (has the government been abducted by aliens?)

Lucky you, but it doesn’t deal with the elephant in the room. If replacing a gas boiler with a heat pump was a simple similarly priced one for one exchange then there wouldn’t be an issue but we all know that isn’t the case. Gas is going to be needed for decades to come.

Verdigris

True. I will be replacing an LPG boiler with a heat pump. On the other hand, me adopting a heat pump is a tiny step in bring the price of them down to levels nearer to boiler prices. Look how quickly electric car prices are coming down, now that production has ramped up in response to legislative change.

[Deleted User]

Verdigris said:

True. I will be replacing an LPG boiler with a heat pump. On the other hand, me adopting a heat pump is a tiny step in bring the price of them down to levels nearer to boiler prices. Look how quickly electric car prices are coming down, now that production has ramped up in response to legislative change.

Yes, but getting an EV doesn’t require me to replace microbore plastic heating pipes; fit bigger radiators or pay for a 3 phase supply*, and I live in a modern EPC A home. Compared to some, my costs for going all electric will be modest and we use very little energy!

*To cater for a heat pump; EVSE and PW2.

Verdigris

I agree this won't be without pain but it has got to happen, one way or another, and time is of the essence.

Being as our economy seems to be founded mainly on house price inflation, perhaps changes of ownership/temancy would be a good point to have housing brought to higher energy efficiency? Instead of Stamp Duty perhaps the property would have to be brought up to an EPC of C, or above, before it could be occupied?

[Deleted User]

Verdigris said:

I agree this won't be without pain but it has got to happen, one way or another, and time is of the essence.

Being as our economy seems to be founded mainly on house price inflation, perhaps changes of ownership/temancy would be a good point to have housing brought to higher energy efficiency? Instead of Stamp Duty perhaps the property would have to be brought up to an EPC of C, or above, before it could be occupied?

That is what politicians want us to believe but the experts say that if we want to reverse climate change we need Net Zero Plus. Most people would argue that EPCs are no longer fit for purpose. 

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/more-than-zero-why-net-zero-alone-wont-save-the-planet-and-what-will

Verdigris

Most people would argue that EPCs are no longer fit for purpose.

Oh, I agree, in spades. I was using EPC as shorthand for some measure of energy efficiency. Any EPC for a property I have looked at/lived in has been fundamentally flawed.

spot1034

Taking out a gas boiler and installing a heat pump sounds like a significant building job for two or more people, quite possibly stretching into days rather than hours and involving major disruption to the householder including redecoration afterwards, and you'll be sent a bill quite possibly into five figures. 

Quite apart from the question as to where all the workers to do this are coming from, how many people who've got heating systems that work well and they're happy with, will want to play along with this?