Sunak ups heat pump grants and pledges grid reform

Prime minister Rishi Sunak has increased the value of grants available to people installing heat pumps while also pledging to draw up a transformative plan to tackle “unacceptable” grid connection delays.

The measures are among a series of changes to the country’s net zero policies, which also include relaxing the deadline to phase out gas boilers and pushing back the ban on sales of petrol and diesel vehicles.

Sunak said the changes were made to ensure the UK was on a “pragmatic, proportionate and realistic path to reach net zero by 2050”.

Under revised plans, the government will:

• Move back the ban on the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by five years, so all sales of new cars from 2035 will be zero emission.
• Delay the ban on installing oil and LPG boilers, and new coal heating, for off-gas-grid homes to 2035, instead of phasing them out from 2026.
• Set an exemption to the phase out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, in 2035, so that households who will most struggle to make the switch to heat pumps or other low-carbon alternatives won’t have to do so. This is expected to cover about a fifth of homes, including off-gas-grid homes – those that will need expensive retrofitting or a very large electricity connection.
• Scrap policies to force landlords to upgrade the energy efficiency of their properties, but instead continue to encourage households to do so where they can.
• Raise the Boiler Upgrade Grant by 50% to £7,500 to help households who want to replace their gas boilers with a low-carbon alternative like a heat pump.
• Rule out policy ideas that would require people to share cars, eat less meat and dairy, be taxed to discourage their flying, or have seven bins to hit recycling targets – removing worrying proposals that would interfere in the way people live their lives.

On grid connection reforms Sunak said the government will draw up the first ever spatial plan for energy infrastructure “to give industry certainty over where it will be and give every community a say”.

The prime minister also revealed that energy secretary Claire Countinho will soon be unveiling proposals for “the most transformative plan ever presented to speed up grid connections”. He said the plan will end the “unacceptable” delays which are holding up projects and added that it will end the “first-come, first-serve” system which has been blamed for blocking the connections queue.

And he also pledged to “fast track” the nationally significant infrastructure project planning regime, available for major eligible transmission projects, “to ensure they are prioritised, helping businesses and households connect to the grid sooner”.

Sunak added: “This country is proud to be a world leader in reaching Net Zero by 2050. But we simply won’t achieve it unless we change.

“We’ll now have a more pragmatic, proportionate, and realistic approach that eases the burdens on families.

“All while doubling down on the new green industries of the future. In a democracy, that’s the only realistic path to Net Zero

“We are going to change the way our politics works. We are going to make different decisions. We will not take the easy way out.

“There will be resistance – and we will meet it. Because I am determined to change our country and build a better future for our children. Nothing less is acceptable.”

The prime minister also said the government will: introduce a new way of setting carbon budgets which is closer aligned to plans to reduce emissions; announce the shortlist of companies to build SMRs this autumn; and create a £150 million Green Future Fellowship fund to promote sustainable technologies.

Reaction

Sunak’s announcement has been largely met with scepticism, with many politicians, analysts and business leaders accusing the prime minister of watering down the UK’s net zero ambitions by pushing back key targets.

Baroness Parminter, chair of the House of Lords Environment and Climate Change Committee, said she was “dismayed” by the announcement and accused the prime minister of “kicking the can down the road” on electric vehicles and heat pumps.

Likewise, Energy UK chief executive Emma Pinchbeck warned that “sudden changes to policies and targets […] are damaging to the very investment we need to fund the move towards Net Zero and jeopardise the economic benefits and opportunities this transformation could bring”.

She added: “Businesses need certainty and stability when making long-term investments worth billions of pounds and targets help provide exactly that. That way businesses can invest, innovate and bring down the costs of low-carbon technologies that we need to adopt like heat pumps and electric vehicles – exactly as they have been doing. As recently as yesterday, Ministers were stressing their continuing commitment to these policies – so it’s alarming for companies considering UK investments in these areas when these same policies are shelved the next day.”

However, both Parminter and Pinchbeck were supportive of Sunak’s decision to raise the grant funding level for heat pumps and was encouraged by his pledges on grid connection reforms.

Lawrence Slade, chief executive of Energy Networks Association, also welcomed the pledged gird reforms.

He added: “Delivering world-class energy infrastructure and ensuring our energy networks remain fit for the future requires policy and regulatory clarity. The UK has an historically stable regulatory regime, which makes it so attractive to infrastructure investors. This needs to be matched by stability from policy makers on their long-term objectives, if the UK is to continue to having a leading role.”

Meanwhile, Tom Smout, Aurora senior research associate for the British power market, described Sunak’s announcement as “a major rewrite of the country’s path to Net Zero”.

However, he said that “while transport and heating targets have been pushed back, the goal of decarbonising the power sector by 2035 remains intact, and potentially easier to reach” if the grid connection process is accelerated as Sunak has promised.