{"id":362631,"date":"2025-01-18T17:55:28","date_gmt":"2025-01-18T16:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=362631"},"modified":"2025-01-18T17:55:30","modified_gmt":"2025-01-18T16:55:30","slug":"miliband-admits-heat-pumps-may-never-be-cheaper-than-gas-boilers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=362631","title":{"rendered":"<\/font>Miliband Admits Heat Pumps May Never Be Cheaper Than Gas\u00a0Boilers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/font>By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/font><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"
https:\/\/www.heatpumps.org.uk\/resources\/statistics\/<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Ed Miliband has admitted that heat pumps may always be more expensive than gas boilers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sales of heat pumps remain pitifully low, despite \u00a37500 subsidies on offer. Government targets of 600,000 sales a year are pie in the sky, with the public at large unconvinced of the benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Daily Mail reports:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heat pumps may never be cheaper than gas boilers, Ed Miliband has said, despite <\/em>Labour<\/em><\/a> sneaking a ‘boiler tax’ through Parliament.<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Energy Secretary confirmed that the government is not planning to introduce a future ban on gas boilers, citing concern around the potential cost to consumers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The scheme, which will come into force in April, means boiler manufacturers will be fined if they fail to sell enough heat pumps.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Companies in the sector have previously warned it would add \u00a3120 to the cost of a new boiler \u2013 leading it to be dubbed the \u2018boiler tax\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee on Wednesday, Mr Miliband said he was \u2018wary\u2019 of stopping people from having gas boilers by a specific date if the government cannot guarantee greener alternatives will be cheaper.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.msn.com\/en-gb\/money\/other\/ed-miliband-admits-heat-pumps-may-never-be-cheaper-than-gas-boilers\/ar-AA1xidIK<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If he is ruling out a ban on gas boilers, it raises the question of how they can be phased out by 2035, which still remains the plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The boiler tax of \u00a3120 is far too tiny to make the slightest difference, and is simply spite. Even if it was raised to punitive levels, it still would not alter the fundamental fact that most people simply cannot afford to spend \u00a310k on a heat pump, never mind the thousands more needed in most homes for upgrading radiators, insulation, hot water tanks and water heaters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If gas boilers are unavailable or unaffordable, people will just buy conventional electric heaters instead. And that would quickly cripple the electricity grid, as it would not have the capacity to cope.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is likely that gas will be taxed, in order to close the price gap with electricity. But to push gas prices up enough to make a difference would be political suicide, even if electricity prices were simultaneously reduced, as it would disproportionately hit the poor. Putting up pensioners’ heating costs would probably sound the death knell for the Labour Government!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreover the current heat pump subsidy of \u00a37500 is unsustainable in the long run. If every home was paid it, the bill would be \u00a3150 billion. All we would be doing was subsidising our own heat pumps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The likely outcome is that Miliband will simply kick the can down the road <\/font>and leave it to the next government to bite the bullet.<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ed Miliband has admitted that heat pumps may always be more expensive than gas boilers.<\/p>\n

Sales of heat pumps remain pitifully low, despite \u00a37500 subsidies on offer. Government targets of 600,000 sales a year are pie in the sky,with the public at large unconvinced of the benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":362632,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[691831484,691818660,691818198,691820075],"class_list":["post-362631","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-energy-secretary-ed-miliband","tag-gas-boilers","tag-heat-pumps","tag-labour","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/0outdoor-heat-pumps-2.jpg?fit=2048%2C1536&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-1wkT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":411272,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=411272","url_meta":{"origin":362631,"position":0},"title":"Boiler tax to rise to \u00a3100 as Miliband pushes heat\u00a0pumps","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"11\/02\/2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Ed Miliband has announced an increase in\u00a0the \u201cboiler tax,\u201d\u00a0which will add an estimated \u00a3100 to the cost of replacing the appliances.","rel":"","context":"In \"boiler tax\"","block_context":{"text":"boiler tax","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=boiler-tax"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00AQOdUDR7REzKmZAt-1oJpC60ZBQKyisKbmAWT5q_T8ML2jru3-pMMAzreGvnhRO21dmoocxOS3pM_V1kaTPCebaf1eOUZUdt1Ve6WPf2qPQg7RQItHBwNQL45is40pQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C749&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00AQOdUDR7REzKmZAt-1oJpC60ZBQKyisKbmAWT5q_T8ML2jru3-pMMAzreGvnhRO21dmoocxOS3pM_V1kaTPCebaf1eOUZUdt1Ve6WPf2qPQg7RQItHBwNQL45is40pQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C749&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00AQOdUDR7REzKmZAt-1oJpC60ZBQKyisKbmAWT5q_T8ML2jru3-pMMAzreGvnhRO21dmoocxOS3pM_V1kaTPCebaf1eOUZUdt1Ve6WPf2qPQg7RQItHBwNQL45is40pQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C749&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00AQOdUDR7REzKmZAt-1oJpC60ZBQKyisKbmAWT5q_T8ML2jru3-pMMAzreGvnhRO21dmoocxOS3pM_V1kaTPCebaf1eOUZUdt1Ve6WPf2qPQg7RQItHBwNQL45is40pQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C749&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/00AQOdUDR7REzKmZAt-1oJpC60ZBQKyisKbmAWT5q_T8ML2jru3-pMMAzreGvnhRO21dmoocxOS3pM_V1kaTPCebaf1eOUZUdt1Ve6WPf2qPQg7RQItHBwNQL45is40pQ-1.jpeg?fit=1200%2C749&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":419601,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=419601","url_meta":{"origin":362631,"position":1},"title":"Gas Boiler Owners \u201cWill Subsidise Heat Pump Users\u201d With New Levy Under Ed Miliband\u2019s \u00a315 Billion Energy Plans","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"01\/03\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"This story claim that, as part of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband's upcoming \u00a315 billion Warm Homes Plan, the UK government is considering a new green levy of around \u00a330 per year on gas bills. 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