Britain’s government is reportedly set to ditch a ban on new gas boilers in newly watered-down efforts to roll out heat pumps.
According to the i newspaper, previously planned rules for 2035 preventing people from replacing gas boilers with new ones will be scrapped.
An effective ban on gas boilers being installed into new-build housing is still set to be unveiled later this year under the “warm homes plan”, the newspaper reported.
As heat pumps run on electricity, they have been seen as a replacement for gas boilers in order to decarbonise UK housing.
However, they cost more than traditional boilers and are currently used in one per cent of households.
Government ministers told the newspaper that they still expected most homes to eventually be switched to heat pumps.
Details on how this would be done are due to be set out in this year’s plan, which will include a “future homes standard”.
Under this, developers will be required to stick to stringent rules on energy efficiency, which cannot be met through the use of gas boilers.
New homes would have to be fitted with heat pumps or other low-carbon systems as a result, according to the i.