Rishi Sunak handed plan to slash energy bills as date boilers ‘will be replaced’ pinned


RISHI SUNAK has been handed a plan to reduce homeowner’s energy bills as a Government advisor tells Express.co.uk when boilers “will be replaced” by green alternatives.

The Heat and Building Strategy is due to be published next month to set out how the Government plans to address potential issues for homeowners such as electricity being significantly more expensive than gas. That “price distortion” is seen as a barrier to helping promote low-carbon solutions, such as hydrogen boilers and heat pumps in homes. The Committee on Climate Change has warned the Government that consumers could end up paying £100 more a year.

But Chris Stark, the Chief Executive of the UK’s independent adviser on climate change, says there are a “whole host of options” available to Chancellor Rishi Sunak to help Britons.

He told Express.co.uk: “In fact, there are so many options is difficult to know exactly what the Government is going to do.

“But there are some thing that really must be achieved in any circumstance.

“One of them is that, by 2050, we are going to stop burning fossil fuels to heat our homes.

“That’s a long time away – we have time to plan for it properly, but the crucial point is that if you buy a boiler today you can use it for 15 to 20 years.

“That’s the timeframe we have to think in – which is why there’s a period in the mid-2030s taking so much significance.”

Mr Stark said that the Government “will replace them with something that is a zero-carbon alternative”.

There are concerns among homeowners over the current cost of going green.

Currently, a semi-detached or mid-terrace property costs about £600 a year to heat.

After subsidies the current cost of installing a heat pump would be between £7,000 and £8,000, bringing down bills to about £500 a year.

A hydrogen boiler would cost about £3,000 but hydrogen bills would be about £900 a year.

But Mr Stark says those prices can fall considerably.

He explained: “By that point we will have very cheap, very green energy, especially coming from the North Sea and all the off shore wind we are developing.

“The planning is the key thing and there are a whole host of options for the Chancellor.

Source: Express.co.uk