The Energy Saving Trust is urging the UK Government to prioritise the rollout of low carbon heating solutions as part of its upcoming Autumn Budget.
Mike Thornton, Chief Executive of the Energy Saving Trust, highlighted the need for renewed focus on low carbon heating deployment, which he says has lagged behind other clean energy initiatives.
This comes as the UK works towards ambitious targets to deliver clean power by 2030 and retrofit five million homes.
Mr Thornton stressed that removing existing barriers is critical to achieving these targets, and has outlined several key policy requests.
Among them is an update on plans to remove legacy costs from electricity bills—changes that could make heat pumps more financially attractive compared to traditional gas boilers.
This policy, initially planned to be in place three years ago, is yet to be implemented.
According to analysis by the Energy Saving Trust, removing levies from electricity bills could significantly increase the number of households that save money by switching to heat pumps, from 66% to 94%.
Mike Thornton, Chief Executive, Energy Saving Trust, said: “A commitment to introduce the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, which would incentivise market scale up with a long term policy framework and play an important role in reducing the upfront cost of heat pumps for households.
“Introduction of the Future Homes Standard to ensure all new homes built are fit for the future and equipped with low carbon heating systems as standard.
“Decarbonising heating in UK homes can only be successful if it’s happening in every part of the country to deliver a just transition.
“We are also calling for a national expert advice service to be established in England which works alongside and enhances local advice provision: to accelerate the installation of low carbon heating.”
