Oil heated households are being urged to send a letter to the new Burnham government, calling on his team to keep the promise of offering more practical low carbon heating solutions for their home.
The previous Starmer administration launched the Alternative Clean Heating consultation which sought views from households about how their homes should be heated. Around 16,000 oil heated households and technicians responded, supporting the use of renewable liquid fuels. However, they have yet to have a reply.
With the new Burnham government in place, oil heated households are calling on the government to publish a response to the consultation and outline how they will ensure rural homes have low carbon heating solutions which are practical and affordable.
To date, government policy has been that most oil heated homes will be expected to install a heat pump. However, for many of these mainly rural households this isn’t realistic. Even with the new £9,000 Boiler Upgrade Scheme grant for oil heated homes, the upfront cost remains significant - the consultation itself said the average cost for homes to switch to a heat pump is around £16,900.
This leaves a significant financial shortfall which means most homes have no choice but to continue using heating oil without any alternative.
Instead, these homes could switch to a renewable liquid fuel such as Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO). The fuel could be used as a blend straight away in the existing boiler and tank with no upfront costs. Households could then continue to use their regular local fuel supplier and technicians.
The heating industry has already successfully run a trial using HVO in around 150 homes over five years. If just a 20% blend of HVO was introduced across the UK's 1.7 million oil heated homes, it would have the same carbon saving impact as putting in 347,372 heat pumps.
In response, the Future Ready Fuel campaign, supported by OFTEC, which represents manufacturers and training providers and runs a registration scheme for non-gas heating technicians, and UKIFDA, which represents fuel distributors, is urging oil heated households to write to the new government to demand a response to the consultation.
Paul Rose, CEO of OFTEC, and Ken Cronin, CEO of UKIFDA, said: "The government asked the question and an incredible 16,000 people spoke up in support of renewable liquid fuels in the recent consultation. Yet, they are still waiting for an answer. The new Burnham government has a duty to not ignore these voices and must respond to the consultation, and then launch a technical consultation on the introduction of the new fuel. That’s why we urging oil heated households to write to his team.
“It’s become increasingly clear that pushing rural households toward heat pumps when the upfront costs, even with grants, are so high simply doesn’t add up. Households want to do the right thing, but they need practical options.
“Renewable liquid fuels have huge support as they work in the existing heating system without any upfront cost. As an industry, we are ready to deliver this transition. We now just need the government to play their part.”
Click here to send a letter to the Burnham government.