Another Net Zero retreat? Tories ditch ‘boiler tax’
By Paul Homewood
Now it’s time to ditch the ZEV tax on cars:
The energy secretary is planning to scrap the so-called boiler tax in a move that will be welcomed by homeowners facing the prospect of having to spend money to replace an old appliance.
Under the government’s “clean heat” strategy, targets had been drawn up to help phase out gas boilers and deliver 600,000 eco-friendly heat pump installations a year by 2028.
The target was due to come into effect in April, when boiler manufacturers would be required to match, or substitute, 4 per cent of their boiler sales with heat pumps or face a fine of £3,000 for every installation they fell short by.
Even though the target had not come into force, manufacturers were already increasing prices on their gas boilers to counter the impact of the fines, with prices set to increase by up to £120 this year.
Claire Coutinho, the energy secretary, accused manufacturers of price gouging, which is when businesses heavily inflate the price of products that are in high demand.
She is preparing to scrap the 4 per cent target and fines after concluding that any government intervention was unlikely to prevent consumers from being hit with additional costs.
A government source said: “Boiler manufacturers have saddled families with indefensible price hikes — this is not right. We’re looking again at the policy, and expect manufacturers to do the right thing and remove their price hikes immediately.”
A formal decision has not been announced, Coutinho has held discussions with officials over several weeks on scrapping the “boiler tax”.
Coutinho has instructed officials in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to speak to the Competition and Markets Authority about launching an investigation into the home heating market to ensure that competition is not limited and consumers are getting a fair price.
The move is likely to infuriate environmentalists, coming only months after Rishi Sunak announced a climb down on the government’s net-zero strategy by pushing back the deadline for banning new petrol and diesel cars.
However, Coutinho believes it may be the only way to get manufacturers to drop their prices again, and that consumers should be prioritised over environmental targets. Some 23 million households were still using a gas boiler last year.
Sunak’s decision to slow down the green transition has won applause from right-wing Tories but sparked criticism from moderates, including the former minister Chris Skidmore, who quit as an MP last month.
A source pointed out that in a recent letter, the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), an industry association representing boiler manufacturers and other gas appliance companies, had confirmed that the companies were prepared to back down if the target were dropped.
The energy secretary is also increasingly concerned that opposition to the boiler tax could undermine confidence in heat pump technology and lead to fewer consumers buying them.
Claire Coutinho has accused manufacturers of unreasonable price rises and is said to believe that consumers should be prioritised over environmental targets
Green policies have also plagued Germany’s government. Olaf Scholz’s coalition government tried to in effect ban all new gas and oil boiler installations as part of its drive to reach carbon neutrality by 2045, but the political and public opposition resulted in the plans being dramatically altered.
The UK government has been chastened by Germany’s experience, with sources revealing that Sunak had already contemplated scrapping the boiler tax back in September, when he announced his big climbdown on net zero.
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
We’re looking again at the policy, and expect manufacturers to do the right thing and remove their price hikes immediately.”
ROFL
You don’t need to be a silly little girl to be a Tory minister but it is certainly no impediment to getting a job.
Strewth. Anyone would think there was an imminent election!
Anyone but Liblabcon.
If you don’t want a useless heat pump.
Anyone but Liblabcon.
more football related “green weekend” climate b*ll*cks from the Grauniad Mathieu Flamini: ‘Football needs to stand up for climate change’ | Football | The Guardian
This is an ex Arsenal footballer who is partner is a biochem business which is “a leader in sustainable alternatives to oil-based products” and who is promoting the usual mumbo jumbo
Additionally today
Second atmospheric river-storm lashes California amid ‘high risk’ flash flooding | California | The Guardian
and yesterday ‘We love our piers’: storms and rising seas threaten California’s coastal landmarks | California | The Guardian
and meanwhile in Australia Fuel efficiency standards: Labor unveils proposal, highlighting petrol savings of $1,000 a year for motorists | Australian politics | The Guardian by laws limiting emissions on new cars and government led “scare campaign”
I never knew there was so much in it !
This is very welcome news but “government source” don’t bloody lie to us – it’s so insulting.
“Boiler manufacturers have saddled families with indefensible price hikes “
NO THEY DIDN’T it was YOUR insane policy that caused the price rises – 100%.
Exactly. They threatened businesses with fines and costs, then whine that businesses pass on those files and costs to consumers. We are governed by idiot children.
The irony here is that when government collects a tax or penalty, it’s OK. But when bad policy creates shortages of what people want and leads to rising prices that government doesn’t get a cut of, it’s greed.
People call for carbon taxes but poor people spend a higher portion of their income on energy than rich people do. It’s green regressive taxation. It can’t be fixed. It just needs to stop.
Its not regressive. It makes little to no sense to use progressive/regressive for consumption based taxes.
“deliver 600,000 eco-friendly heat pump installations a year by 2028”
Really? And what will be the back-up sources of heat when the power fails? As it will. And the new heat pumps (about 250 per work day) will need electricity. At the end of a month, will your neighborhood cope with 5,000 simultaneously new loads on the local grid?
Maybe an electrical engineer can comment on the possibilities.
John H, you rightly ask what will be the back-up heating system when the electricity supply fails. In the UK do we even have such a sophisticated concept as back-up heating systems? For comparison with a neighbouring country, I learnt yesterday that in Norway it is compulsory to have two independent heating systems for your home. Now that sounds like a really good idea, but perhaps a bit complicated and radical for our politicians.
Regards, John C.
In 2016 a UK government committee concluded that electric home heating was impossible because it would need a 400% increase in generation capacity .
And that is not all as local grid networks would not work as most 20th century housing was supplied with the limits of about 5KWh per house at any one time . Because very few people have a lot of high energy electric units on at the same time .
So the whole idea of heat pumps for all was just insanity .
I hate to say it, but your gas boiler needs electricity to function. If there are power cuts we get cold no matter what we run.
If it’s any help an electrician will wire a small standby generator from Amazon into your house for a modest price.
Of course you get what you pay for. Something that will run heating and LED lights shouldn’t cost more the a few hundred quid. I spent about £1,000 three years ago to have one installed that will run the whole house providing we’re sensible. A bit OTT, I know, but we were having work done on the house so the electricians did it almost as a freebie. I also had a little windfall of cash or I would have bought something less than half the price.
Make sure you give it a run for say half an hour regularly. Any petrol (or diesel) should be turned over frequently – it will degrade if stored for months, especialy with the higher ethanol content of E10. Propane should be fine.
Just by 100% pure petrol from Esso. Even their E10 only had 2% shit in it.
https://www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/fuels
Thanks for the advice. I do give it a run monthly but also buy a fuel preparation that extends the shelf life of petrol for up to 3 years.
The 0% ethanol Esso seems to be somewhat of an urban myth even if once true. From Esso’s current FAQs
How much ethanol is in Esso’s E5 fuel?
We currently supply an ethanol-free Synergy Supreme * 99 unleaded in some parts of the UK.
From September 2023 our Synergy Supreme * 99 will transition to contain up to a maximum of 5% ethanol at all Esso pumps irrespective of which part of the country they are located. The labelling at our pumps will remain as E5 for Synergy Supreme * 99 unleaded.
https://www.esso.co.uk/en-gb/faqs
Running Aspen through your generator before storing it just makes sense. You can use whatever you like once it’s running (first pull!). That’s my method for my Honda Eu10i and my Honda 2.3 air cooled outboard. My colleague (chartered engineer and lawn mower guru) swears by it.
600,000 per year eh?
Given the cock-up they’ve made of the infinitely simpler conversion to “Smart” meters, not a snowball in Hell’s chance!
Well in 2023 they managed to install about 30,000 so they only need to increase that installation rate by 20 fold in order to meet the 2028 target – easily done , no? 🙂
CARBON
It should be illegal to talk about carbon, carbon footprint or carbon capture without adding a suffix. Are we talking about the element carbon as in charcoal or rod or carbon fibre? or are we talking about one of the gases, such as carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide or methane? or any one of the other carbon compounds? I am certain that a majority of the public, politicians, mainstream media and power elites have no idea what form of carbon is being discussed let alone what a greenhouse gas is or does.or how they vary.and are produced. Alarmists who justify nothing scientifically now lump any adverse effect including pollution under the general term climate change. They say “carbon” capture, whatever that is, is the magic cure all. This is not only mostly wrong but it is grossly misleading..
I’m sure the BBC misinformation department will be on that in a trice…….
How ’bout carbon superlatives?
Carbon, carboner, carbonest.
+1
Even the BBC had to admit that, with the people who install heat pumps that we have, it will take 400 years to fit one in every home. I very much doubt that there are enough people with nothing else to do sitting around waiting to install them.
That’s assuming we have the engineers to do it, which we don’t.
That was the point I was making.
In simple economics, companies should obtain the maximum price for their products or services. If a stupid government interferes with the market then it is the Governments fault if it does not like the outcome.
Leaving the economics class and going to a business class, day the first . . . companies should price their products or services to balance margins and volume.
What? How do I know demand? How do I know demand at various price points? And demand is often elastic.
Take the class.
Price gouging?
Supply and demand?
I’ve told this story before . . . a petrol station near me was fined for “price gouging” a few years ago [state law]. Now, when there is a shortage crisis, they SLAP SHUT. In a shortage crisis, they leave all their petrol in the tanks.
Government helping us out. You can’t find petrol anywhere, and these guys have a bunch, but you can’t get it. Thx, gov.
Not even that, just passing on the likely costs of government stupidity. Virtually all Westrrn governments believe that making stuff more expensive via dumb Green policies can somehow not make stuff more expensive for consumers.
They think it creates jobs™.
Only slightly O/T
Sadiq Khan investing £150m in ‘secret’ technology that could deliver pay-per-mile road charging
London Mayor employing 157 staff on TfL scheme amid claims he is stepping up war on motorists
The scheme, called Project Detroit, was set up by Transport for London (TfL) to create a “more sophisticated… new core technology platform for road-user charging”.
A series of Freedom of Information (FoI) requests show 157 staff are now working solely on the scheme, with some engineers being paid more than £100,000 a year.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/02/03/sadiq-khan-motorists-pay-per-mile-charging-road-tax/
Frankly, I don’t give a moneys what the Khan’t does. The more the better as far as I’m concerned. It will destroy London the way he’s going as no one will want to do business there any longer. It’s destiny is as a huge slum.
I live in Dartford, 18 miles from London city centre and on the border of Bexley where the ULEZ scheme begins. I have a ULEZ compliant ICE car so immune from the little twat for now, although risk the congestion charge if I drive into London which I haven’t gone near in years.
The roads are a nightmare thanks to cycle lanes which no one uses other than, perhaps, at rush hour. Oh yes, I almost forgot. The Sunday ‘protest’ ride out by hundreds of cyclist’s regularly to highlight the lack of cycle lanes. The fekkers are all over the pavements when the roads are empty on Sundays!
In 2001 I was commuting by car from SE London (Dartford) to NW London (Chiswick) which was a bit of a pain at 1.5 hours each way but tolerable considering trains were no better. Then the cycle lanes began encroaching so I bought a motorbike and it was 45 minutes home to office.
I doubt I could do the same journey now in 1.5 hours on my motorbike thanks to cycle lanes and 20mph speed limits.
Beware of someone else thinking it’s a great idea for motorway gantries and city, I was going to say centres but probably just towns and cities covers it
Khan will soon be copying Paris’s idea to triple the tax on SUVs in the city…
Paris now charge motorcycles Euro3 per hour for motorcycle parking. Wait til Khan realises he’s missing out on a bit of revenue.
Admitting that gas boilers won’t be gone any time soon means that we will still need lots of gas to supply them. How does this square with Labour’s aim of hit NS drilling hard? No wonder th e Tories seem more friendly to the NS oil boys. I didn’t think that reality would rear it’s head so quickly.
The UK government has been chastened by Germany’s experience
Political fortunes trump the so-called climate crisis that never was, outside of climate models, rigged data and the heads of believers in pseudoscience.
Battery cars next hopefully, followed by net zero in totality, the biggest scam ever foisted on taxpayers by greedy globalist elites
If the car manufacturers were not such compliant morons they should have raised prices immediately in January. The adverse publicity of the instant price increase on boilers is a certain vote loser for the Tories, even if Kneeler and Labour would be worse.
Which individuals / groups have money invested in what’s being pushed onto the population and who gets all the bribes ?
‘Follow the money’ never seems to be ever wrong, its only clouded by the muddy waters at the time !
You would have thought these guys had made enough pushing Prof Pfizer’s magic elixir, but no they’re on a roll !
I don’t believe they’re retreating on anything, once the ‘plebs’ have used their vote on the Lib/Lab/Con donkeys, it’ll be back. The only way is to completely wipe them all out at an election and install an alternative. We’ve had enough of the lies.
Or maybe a modern day Oliver Cromwell would work 🙂
Strange how Gates’ money laundering operation made a big investment in Biontech in September and then Covid made its first appearance the next month at the Wuhan military games.
We need more sunlight on the whole kit and kabudle. I’ve been participating in a wind power themed thread on our community website. It’s noticeable that the original post detailing the payment criteria of the wind turbine owners, has generated a lot of negative comments towards the industry and the government as a whole, while the usual Net Zero aficionados have been largely absent this time, so far. To be honest, I have been pleasantly surprised at the response to a few facts about the costs involved, more people (in this small area) are beginning to see the pitfalls now than previously.
The eco zeolots both inside and outside Govt will be foaming at the mouth at this “reversal” so let’s hope it survives and goes through.
The Govt should then follow this by scrapping the similar ICE car penalties
Once again the stupidity of government that believes businesses don’t pass on the costs of government stupidity to consumers.
Jeg er en vidunderlijk diesel”. written in Danish on the back of this giant twelve wheel lorry full of bacon from Dover thst has just rolled past. And another. And anotjet. So what’s the rationale, eh?
Let’s not allow the apparent futile failure of the CO2 campaign to allow a shift to the “clean” motif – equally a fraud
“Boiler manufacturers have saddled families with indefensible price hikes”
No, you numpty – it’s your government which has forced them to do that.
Private Eye (1616 – current) reports under Rotten Boroughs that many councils are re-thinking their Net Zero targets. Peterborough city council is considering its target to decarbonise the city by 2030 despite having declared a “climate emergency” in 2019. Is there is still hope that sanity may return?
Great news, now ditch net zero in totality