By Paul Homewood
The CCC have been finally forced to admit what I have been saying for years:
Installing a heat pump will push energy bills higher, the Government’s adviser has admitted, despite ministers pressing the technology on households.
The Climate Change Committee, the Government’s independent adviser on tackling climate change, has found the running cost of heat pumps is 10pc higher than that of a gas boiler – equal to £100 more a year.
This excludes the upfront capital costs of around £10,000 per household that is needed to replace a gas boiler with a heat pump, according to the Energy and Utilities Alliance, a trade body.
The CCC’s report said: “Even under current record high gas prices, our estimates suggest that the average heating bill for a heat pump is around 10pc higher than for a gas boiler.”
Mike Foster, of the EUA, said the data had been “hidden away from the main headlines” and confirmed fears installing heat pumps would worsen the effects of the cost of living crisis.
He said those who suggest heat pumps are the answer to soaring energy bills – particularly as the energy price cap is set to increase later this year – “risk heaping more misery onto ordinary, hard-working families.”
Mr Foster added: “The Government should be looking at ways of reducing our heating bills, not ramping them up. They have a target of 600,000 heat pumps a year to be fitted into homes by 2030. This will force up heating bills, not just according to our analysis, but also to the Government’s own advisors. It’s time for a reset.”
The CCC have attempted to mislead the public by pretending that green levies are to blame, and should be switched from electricity to gas :
“Heat pumps run on electricity, which is around four times more expensive than gas because of the way carbon taxes are applied. These taxes add £93 to an average electricity bill but only £3 to gas bills, according to supplier Octopus, although this is currently being reviewed”
This is twaddle, because the” levies” actually reflect the cost of renewable power. Shifting the cost of these subsidies elsewhere is just legerdemain.
In the long run, gas prices should return to historic levels, providing gas drilling is encouraged and not demonised. By contrast, electricity prices will continue to remain high, as more and more subsidised low carbon schemes come online, transmission networks are upgraded, standby capacity is built and the costs of balancing the grid balloon.
via NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
JULY 6, 2022