£5,000 grants offered to help replace gas boilers

Homeowners are to be offered grants of £5,000 from next April to help them to replace old gas boilers with low carbon heat pumps.

The grants - which will be available to homeowners in England and Wales - are part of the government's £3.9bn plan to reduce carbon emissions from heating homes and other buildings.

It is hoped no new gas boilers will be sold after 2035.

The funding also aims to make social housing and public buildings more energy efficient.

Ministers say the subsidies will make heat pumps a comparable price to a new gas boiler.

However, the £450m being allocated for the subsidies over three years will cover a maximum of 90,000 pumps.

Will Hargreaves (pictured), Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce's environmental policy lead, said: “The plan is a step in the right direction and the financial support is welcomed. This should support the development of the low-carbon technology sector and help the uptake of energy-efficient heat pumps for decarbonising UK building stock.

“However, more clarity is needed on the timeline for these grants for long-term business planning and investment. With the Government 's target of 600,000 annual heat pump installations by 2028, the current plan does not meet the trajectory needed to meet this ambition. If the Government expects private industry to support the development of the market, more support and clarity is required to accelerate the progress needed to meet this ambitious target.

“For businesses wanting to reduce their energy costs, we are running the Sustainable Business Series campaign, which features a week on how to reduce business energy consumption. ”

The Sustainable Business Series: Net Zero aims to share best practice guidance and knowledge to progress businesses to net zero. You can find out more on the Series here.