So, what have they said? One important announcement is the intention to continue with Conservative plans to introduce the Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM) The CHMM is a controversial scheme that requires boiler manufacturers to also produce heat pumps at a gradually increasing percentage of their production or pay heat pump manufacturers to make them on their behalf. It is scheduled to begin in April 2025 and the Government hopes it will bring the price of heat pumps down – although this remains to be seen.
Additional funding
The Government has also committed an additional £1.5bn of funding to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, with support extended from the spring of 2025 to 2028. This is a significant increase over the 450m originally committed for the first three years of the scheme. The support will greatly increase the number of grants available, providing more certainty for installers – no doubt also tempting more to join the sector – and potentially accelerating the deployment of heat pumps significantly. This is in line with Labour’s declared thinking, which is to encourage uptake, rather than implementing bans of fossil fuel heating. To that end, the 2035 end date for the installation of fossil fuel boilers appears to have been scrapped.
There is also some other positive news for the liquid fuel heating sector. In answer to a recent Parliamentary question, the new Minister, Miatta Fahnbulleh, said the Government would prioritise the use of renewable liquid fuels in sectors like aviation, and potentially homes that are not readily suitable for heat pumps, as these offer the greatest opportunity to reduce emissions and have fewest alternative options to decarbonise. She added that the Government would need to ensure they are affordable, and available in sufficient quantities, before making any decisions on whether to support wider deployment, including the introduction of any obligations
Help us put pressure on the Government with the Future Ready Fuel campaign
If you want to safeguard the future of the liquid-fuelled heating sector, there’s never been a better time to help our campaign.
Until Labour announces its full heat policy, or publishes a consultation on a fuel obligation, we have a priceless opportunity to influence their thinking. Many of the areas where oil heating is used now have new Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs. We need to bring them up to speed with the challenges facing owners of these hard-to-treat properties, explain that a purely heat pump-based solution won’t succeed, and that fuels such as HVO have a vital role to play.
The industry, led by OFTEC and UKIFDA, is already working hard to do this, but our efforts can only take us so far. To put it bluntly, the Government would reply: “Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you?”. We need to harness the voice of our customers and encourage them to join the Future Ready Fuel campaign.
Please help us
It couldn’t be easier to help us succeed. Order a stock of Future Ready Fuel flyers – they’re free and you can get them from OFTEC’s marketing team by emailing marketing@oftec.org, telephoning 01473 626298, or contacting us via the OFTEC Facebook group or social media. Once you receive them, simply hand them to your customers. Electronic copies are also available if you want to email them. Then encourage your customers to visit the Future Ready Fuel website and sign up for updates. If they do that, there’s a good chance we can convince them to join the campaign and write to their MP using a letter we’ve drafted.
Add your voice to the campaign too
If you want to help us a bit more, write to your MP too. It only takes a couple of minutes to do it, and we’ve prepared a letter for oil heating businesses that you can download via the link in our November e-news or from the OFTEC Facebook group.
Thank you in advance for your help.
Image supplied by OFTEC
