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Designed to help ensure that low-carbon heating systems cost the same amount or less than gas boilers, the £450m boiler upgrade scheme will run for three years.
The new Heat and Buildings Strategy will help reduce dependency on fossil fuels and exposure to global price spikes, the government said, as well as supporting up to 240,000 jobs by 2035.
Heat pumps work by extracting heat from the air or ground outside a building to evaporate a liquid, which is then put through a compressor to heat up the gas. That heat can then be used inside the building.
Heating buildings is one of the UK’s largest sources of carbon emissions, accounting for 21%. No-one will be forced to remove existing fossil-fuel boilers, a government announcement said, but it also set a new target for all new heating systems installed in UK homes by 2035 to either be low-carbon, such as electric heat pumps, or new technologies like hydrogen-ready boilers.
Energy secretary Kwasi Kwarteng said: “Recent volatile global gas prices have highlighted the need to double down on our efforts to reduce Britain’s reliance on fossil fuels and move away from gas boilers over the coming decade to protect consumers in the long term.
“As the technology improves and costs plummet over the next decade, we expect low-carbon heating systems will become the obvious, affordable choice for consumers. Through our new grant scheme, we will ensure people are able to choose a more efficient alternative in the meantime.”
The new strategy was criticised as insufficient by the opposition, however. Shadow energy secretary Ed Miliband wrote: “This strategy was meant to be the government's big plan after a decade of inaction on energy efficiency. Emissions from buildings are now higher than in 2015. A real plan needs investment at scale to help households make the transition – but this announcement doesn’t deliver.
“Heat-pump grants for 30,000 households a year cover only one in 250 households currently on the gas grid. Given that the government's target is 600,000 heat pumps a year by 2028, this is way short of where they need to be...
“In contrast, Labour has a plan to invest £6bn a year between now and 2030 for low-carbon heating and retrofit. Led by local authorities, we'll give every home that needs it an upgrade, bring bills down by hundreds of pounds, improve energy security, and create good jobs.”
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