Gas boilers win lifeline in £15bn strategy for warm homes

Gas boilers will not be given a phaseout date in the government’s warm homes strategy but billions of pounds will go toward heat pumps and insulation upgrades.

- Fiona Harvey Jillian Ambrose

The warm homes plan includes £2.7bn to help households switch from gas boilers to heat pumps

(ANNA BARCLAY/GETTY IMAGES)

The £15bn plan, which is Labour’s flagship attempt to tackle the cost of living crisis, will overhaul 5m dwellings. Aiming to cut energy bills by as muchas £1,000 a year, it is the biggest publicinvestment offered yet for home upgrades.

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, told the Guardian he wanted every household to benefit from clean energy. “We understand that clean energy can lower bills,” he said. “We are seeing record demand for solar, record demand for heat pumps. We want this opportunity tobe extended to everyone in our society”

He forecast that a million people would be lifted out of fuel poverty, with grants for insulation and clean energy for people on low incomes.

Millions more would gain access toloansand subsidies to help pay for heat pumps.

“This is three times more public investment than the last government,’ he said. “This is what great reforming governments do - they build homes and they upgrade homes. This is what Labour governments have done. Look at who this governmentstands up for - ordinary working people.”

The £15bn plan will include:

@ ¢sbn for upgrades - including insulation, solar panels, batteries and heat pumps - for households on low incomes.

@ £2bn toward low-cost loans for people who can afford them.

@ £2.7bn for the boiler upgrade scheme, by which people can swap their gas boilers for £7,500 ona new heat pump.