by Will Jones
Gas boiler owners could face a £30 green levy on their energy bills to subsidise heat pump owners under plans reportedly being considered by Ed Miliband. The Mail has the story.
The Energy Secretary is expected to unveil a bumper £15 billion warm homes plan next month following months of discussions with the Treasury over costs.
Mr Miliband is hoping to make gas users pay to encourage the uptake of heat pumps by imposing the levy to artificially cut electricity bills, reported the Times.
The Government is trying to move away from gas because its price is far more volatile amid a push towards what Ministers claim will be cheaper renewable energy.
The cost per unit of gas at 6.29p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) under the Ofgem price cap is currently a quarter of the electricity rate at 26.35p – known as the ‘spark gap’.
It comes after the Chancellor said last month she was trying to cut energy bills and the overall cost of living, with £150 off the average household bill from next year.
Rachel Reeves said in the Budget announcement that she would do this by scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme introduced by the Conservatives in government, which she claimed had cost households £1.7 billion a year on their bills.
Ending the ECO, which saw insulation and modern heating systems funded by a levy on all energy bills, meant a cut in average gas bills of about £30 a year per household.
But Mr Miliband’s plans mean such a benefit could now be wiped out – and energy campaigners suggested a range of alternatives for the Government to consider. …
Green energy entrepreneur Dale Vince criticised the change, telling the Times: “It impacts the people that can least afford their bills, let alone dream of a heat pump.
“If you get a Government subsidy for a heat pump, you still need to find £7,000 yourself.”
But the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) insisted to the Mail today that suggestions over the new levy are simply “speculation”.
Worth reading in full.
I recently had a new gas boiler fitted. Price? £3,300 all inclusive; in other words, less than half what I’d have to find to pay for a subsidised heat-pump.
And at my age, I’d never see payback on the supposed benefits of a heat-pump which would be totally unsuitable for my Victorian house anyway.
That was quite expensive, they are much cheaper than that.
Can you give a price? How much cheaper?
It all depends on size of boiler and what other works are needed to fit a new boiler
I replaced a 23-year-old tankless water heater ($5000) and propane furnace ($7000) about three weeks ago. I put a rough cost of $2-4000 of that on California requiring “improved” versions of each which needed more ducting and more ventilation, mostly for the furnace. The efficiency did increase, from roughly 90% to 97%. Those two use roughly 500 gallons of propane a year, so my lossage went from 50 gallons to 15. Saving 35 gallons a year is about $100. It would have taken 20-40 years to pay for the extra efficiency, not taking into consideration the time discount.
I don’t know if I would have gone for the extra efficiency on my own. The biggest factor is not the cost of the propane, but the risk of running out while snow is on the ground and the truck can’t get here. My propane tanks hold 800 gallons, I buy 600 in an average year, 450 in August when it’s cheapest ($2.55) and 150 in November ($3.00). The propane company gets nervous if the tanks drop down to 200 gallons. Is the extra 35 gallon reserve above the 150 gallon November top-up worth the extra cost? Probably not, and it’s not enough to forgo the $75 more expensive November top-up.
18 kW boiler, new circulating pump, new control system and thermostat, system flush, CO2 detector, and a 10-year warranty. The old boiler and its controls and pump were 21 years old.
And remember that £660 of that is VAT and there was about 8 man-hours of labour involved on top. There was also additional work to fit a drain because the old boiler was not a condensing one.
You can obviously buy just a boiler for much less than that from the warehouse but, taking everything else – including inflation – into account, the price compared very favourably with what I paid for the last installation 21 years ago.
I am paying the same for mine. I think its fair – and in a house that cannot take a heat pump.
so to be clear – under these plans I will be subsidising other households heating bills?
Got it…
If heat pumps were cost effective, they wouldn’t need subsidies. Heat pumps have the same problem as electric cars. They are both inferior products to existing products at a higher price.
Correct.
Plus Mad Ed doesn’t seem to know that over 22m of the 28+m homes in the country are on the gas network and the way the heat pump roll out is going it will take donkeys years to make any sizeable inroad into that number. The country will be using gas for a long long time.
This government it pure evil.
The Left has always been about dividing the population in opposing camps so they can stay in power.
Climate, Immigration, EVs, Gender, Economics etc etc.The stupids can be used as cannon fodder because they always fall for the ‘free’ stuff trap.
No, all governments work on the divide
andto rule principle.You keep opposing sides focused on each other & then nobody sees what’s really going on, until it’s too late.
Because all governments are Left wing leaning. There are no real Right wing small governments. Just like there are no Free Market economies.
‘Because all governments are Left wing leaning.’
In the US, that’s because so-called ‘conservative’ Republicans discovered a long tine ago that they could win elections by running a tad to the right of the increasingly insane Marxist Democrat party. All signed off on by our Judiciary, of course, to whom if you honestly compared the state of our republic today vs what is plainly spelled out in the Constitution, you’d have to assign at most a gentleman’s D.
Actually all political parties are left wing. So given that all governments are run by political parties you are correct. The far right is independents but because they are independent they are immune to the evils of the collectivism of the left which floats rubbish to the top.
“You keep opposing sides focused on each other & then nobody sees what’s really going on, until it’s too late.” What you are referring to is party politics. Government, does not and has never required political parties to operate and deliver democracy.
The inclusion of parties is all about bribes (aka policy) and the peoples blind willingness to be told they are not bribes but, are rather, essential tools. A joke. Q: How do you know when a politician is lying? A: When their lips are moving.
Don’t think of it as a tax think of it as a levy for middle class good works and slushfunding. It’s the way lefties roll.
Gas is more expensive than renewables!
Well, it will be when we tax it…..
It is Jan. 2026 – time for Miliband to tell us what the price of renewable energy will be in AR7. We’ve waited long enough….
Oh wait! The results are on a new timetable…. again.
The price bargaining must be going really badly if Miliband doesn’t want to tell us the results.
Yet another April, May, June, July and August, fools wind-up.
“Mr Miliband is hoping to make gas users pay to encourage the uptake of heat pumps by …”
…obviously wealthier people, and to have it paid for by those much less well off. The average gas boiler costs ~£3k to £5k. Even then, for many that’s a big expense. And heat pumps? Ground source ~£24k and air source, ~£11k.
But then there is also the 2.4 rule to consider – larger radiators – hot water etc That jacks it up considerably. And electricity is way more expensive than gas. But affordability does not enter Miliband’s equations. He is the green messiah come to lead the world to the new environmentally friendly Jerusalem. As it’s aimed at the better off, what’s going on in the Elysian Fields of socialist (feudal) Islington; home of one Mad Ed Miliband?
A planning dispute in North London has placed heat pump noise under scrutiny, just as the government pushes to expand the low-carbon technology nationwide. Residents of Dartmouth Park have objected to a proposed block of flats that includes six air source heat pumps, warning of potential noise pollution. The objections come at a politically awkward moment for Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, who lives nearby and has made the mass adoption of heat pumps a key pillar of the UK’s net zero strategy. – Home Building
10 days later…
Heat pumps no longer required to have 1m distance from neighbours
Critics call Miliband’s decision ‘another quick fix’ to inflate uptake figures
Ed Miliband has been accused of pitting “neighbours against neighbours” after scrapping a heat pump planning rule to boost demand… – The Telegraph
Mad Ed is a soubriquet that has been well earned. He represents, not only Gaia, but the absolute triumph of faith over [any] reason.
OT.
But …. .
A guid New Year tae ‘aa wur scrievers, moderators and readers, and lang may yer lums reek.
A translation is available to those who contribute to my fund which will pay for the research which will prove that ingrowing toenails are caused by CAGW. I’m also going to apply for a grant from Mad Ed.
Who was that who just said that he is probably mad enough to give it? Shame on you!
If only Old English were easily understandable. Well, it can be if you put in the effort
Beowulf
In more recent English
It might be easier to understand if it was known how to pronounce it.
Bay o Wolf
Or
Bay o vulf
Try this version of Beowulf
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4BUkOjxuZo
Enjoy
The 9th century was long after. Hurdy Gurdy’s are an afterthought.
Bonkers and cringey. LoL.
I would go for Seamus Heaney’s brilliantly declamatory reading of his own translation myself.
Blein feer vie!
It is bizarre watching the totalitarian machinations of this or that government person with the goal of “net zero”. The goal is an unworthy one because it attacks the well-being of the people for no good reason.
A State with a Direct Tax system is always a Totalitarian machine. They have the power to know everything about you. You are no more than a Slave. You own nothing because everything is taxed. Try not to pay the tax and find out how long it is ‘yours’ and how long you stay ‘free’.
“The goal is an unworthy one…” Modern political elites have exactly the same reason for attacking the working and middle classes as mountaineers do for climbing mountains; because they’re there! The High Church of Marxism, Reformed, has adopted climatism, transgenderism, and nihilism as their catechism. Destroying the plebs while shoveling money to their family and friends is just a side benefit that they luxuriate in immensely!
In new properties, heat pumps may have their place, providing the system is designed properly.
In much of the UK’s existing housing stock, the cost of heat pumps plus possible replacement of radiators and pipework will be prohibitive for most house owners.
Once again evidence that Miliband is a clueless twonk.
Older housing stock was never a problem until the latest iteration of the Volkische movement reared its ugly head. Yes, older houses are not terribly energy efficient, but with cheap energy that is not an issue, or at least it wasn’t until now. Now we have to have heating allowances etc etc paid as a state benefit from taxation and bills.
The housing is fine. Miliband and his ilk are certifiably insane.
Agreed.
Older stock with lime plaster and mortar allowed the house to breathe. Popping on insulation prevents that and leads to mould growth.
You and I are both at an age where we remember ice inside the windows. It never did us any harm.
At the risk of sounding like a Pythonesque Yorkshireman, we never had central heating. The paraffin and coal lorries came round, as did the men to empty the gas and electric meters, counting the money on the dining room table.
It was a different country then. Children were not infantalised. Today they are.
Yep.
And coal fires here too
Exactly, and then… people started to board up or remove the fireplaces and put in gas fires, or electric bar heaters with a naff coal fire effect. When we moved into this house, we restored the original fireplace in the whatever you want to call the main large room where we do most things.
At the beginning of 2025 we had to chop down an oversized Ash tree in the garden. The wood is dense and burns slow. It will last nearly as long as this government is in power – assuming they do not cancel that election, too. Less gas, more wood. It’s a market economy with market economy rules.
Ah outside loo and no bathroom. Those were the days!
Search images for: Jack Frost Windows
That’s why many people now sleep with the window a little bit open even in winter. So all that insulation makes zero sense.
One consequence of free press watchdogs morphing into lapdogs is that sociopaths on either side have free rein to warp the fabric of government to suit themselves. And eventually the psychopaths rise to the top, like turds in an open septic!
Whether Mad Ed is a socio- or a psychopath will be debated for years!
“Miliband and his ilk are certifiably insane.”
You’ve just given a psychological diagnosis to their leftist dogma.
A survey by the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) of the UK housing stock found that 12m homes were totally unsuitable for the installation of heat pumps, the main drawback being lack of space for an installation and modifications to radiators etc.
Plus over 22m homes in the country are on the gas network. The roll out of heat pumps is going to take ages before it has any significant impact on that number
My house, built in 1981, was designed to be all-electric with an iron-box wood stove for supplemental/emergency heating. As built it has 3.5 inches of insulation in the walls and large ducts for air flow. [Remodels and new construction has now to be 5.5 inches of insulation.] The warm (or cooled) air comes under the floors and up through via “registers“. Search for images of “floor heat registers”; for those not familiar with the concept.
I often see comments about “radiators” but, to me, that is not the same as what my house has. This may be an “American english” thing, or not.
Ed Miliband should have listened to his bro David and stayed out of politics.
He’d be unemployed.
And unemployable.
David… stabbed in the back by mad Ed for the party leadership, went into the NGO game…
David Miliband’s bumper salary was at risk from Trump’s USAID cuts. Miliband runs humanitarian aid charity the International Rescue Committee, which had its funding frozen. Imperilling Dave’s £983,073 salary and £117,701.25 bonus…
Starmer could have come to Miliband’s aid but decided to slash the UK’s aid funding instead. Now Dave rages in the FT…
Guido
Until a government minister introduces the actual changes everything projected by the media and those interested is ‘speculation’. The fact the government uses that phrase to dismiss the ideas being advanced suggests the projected changes are too close to the truth to refute.
This government is continuing a strong recent tradition in British Politics. All of our administrations since 1992 have been dire and negative to the UK’s long term interests.
It would be fair to say Ed Miliband and his boss Kneel Starmer are the worst, though the contestants for that title are many and from both sides of the political divide.
There is no doubt Miliband is on a mission to destroy the UK. It would be interesting from a historic point of view to find out why he is so fixated with our destruction.
His father was a marxist and hated the country which had given him refuge.
Excuse me while I dust myself down. I fell on the floor yesterday. I heard Dale Vince calling Miliband’s heat-pump policy badly misguided.
He probably has another wheeze for lining his own pockets and heat-pumps don’t fit into it, but astonishingly he listed off a few excellent reasons why it is a stupid and expensive idea. He would not have been unwelcome here.
Strange bed-fellow to start the year…
All is not well.
Dale Vince says future Labour donations ‘TBC’ after Bondi Beach shooting comments spark row with ministers
https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/dale-vince-labour-donations-bondi-beach-5HjdQ2C_2/
Labour is in a terrible muddle. By nature it is now a de-facto islamic party. But cannot yet be seen to be so.
Miliband is an ignorant traitor.
Ignorant: indisputably. Traitorous: no, I think he really believes his twaddle. That makes him even more dangerous. A traitor can be bought off with a higher bid.
In the Netherlands this has been going on for years. Special energy tax on gas has been raised from € 0.70 to € 0.73 this year. On top of that we pay 21% VAT. The energy tax is partly is used to cross-subsidize electricity.
I’ve had mixed experiences with heat pumps since 1988. The first was a ground water system near a lake in Michigan. I used 50 degree well water as the heat source and discharged it into the lake. The system had major reliability issues and finally failed in 10 years when the refrigerant heat exchanger started leaking well water.
It also had a ground water heat exchanger for air conditioning, and that worked great so I kept in place when I installed a gas furnace for heating. That’s all still working after another25+ years.
My second experience is with air-to-air HVAC units in Texas with an average annual (and ground water
0 temperature) of 70 F. It too, has had reliability issues, though relatively minor. This has included motor start capacitors, relays, and refrigerant loss. It occasionally uses resistance electric backup heating on cold winter days, so it’s not always efficient. We happen to be downstream of a small hydro dam and weathered the “great Texas 10 day wind turbine failures \several years ago without losing our power. We had many neighbors and friends that were subjected to rolling blackouts and water freeze ups.
I would argue that heat pumps might be OK in places of 70+ average annual temperatures but would be seriously inadequate in places like the UK.
Burning NG in a modern furnace or water heater loses about 15% of the energy up the flue.
Converting NG to electricity loses about 65% up the chimney and out the cooling system before it even leaves the plant site.
Dumb!
Natural gas at $6/E6Btu burned in a modern condensing furnace (air) or water heater with 85% efficiency has a net delivered cost of $7/E6Btu.
Electricity at $0.15/kWh and 100% efficiency powering a furnace (air) or water heater has a net delivered cost of about $40/E6Btu.
A heat pump using $0.15/kWh and a COP of 3.5 has a net delivered energy cost of about $12/E6Btu. The colder the weather the lower the COP and higher the net cost.
If some salesman suggests replacing NG w heat pump & does not know this he is uninformed.
If he suggests replacing NG w heat pump & does know this, he is a crook.
If I did not have gas then I would not be able to heat my flat or cook because it is the only thing that makes these things affordable.
That isn’t like thievery at all.
Ok, maybe it is a little.
But it’s for a “good” cause.
Oh heck, it is highway robbery, plain and simple.
Worthless crappy government, it is up to ratepayers and taxpayers to get rid of these mongrels, they aren’t going to go away by themselves.
I once had a gas furnace that was installed in the ’40s and still working in the early ’80s when I owned it. It hardly ever had to be serviced, according to my uncle, a plumber, who installed it. My oil furnaces always should be serviced every year and it’s not cheap to do so.
Yeah, they gonna make it colder out! So virtuous. So adamant, So specious, so insidious so effing conniving.
The anti-science ( basic physics ) and thus anti-environment tyrannies of the arrogant grifters is appalling . For all his faults , yea Trump !
Gee Ed, maybe you should drill and frack (gasp) your own gas.