New gas boiler threat – install heat pump or we’ll DEVALUE your home ‘We’re being forced’ | Personal Finance | Finance
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The Government scheme is aiming to reduce the carbon emissions from our homes by replacing 26 million gas boilers at a total cost of £115 billion. Homeowners who refuse could see their property value fall as a result.
Express.co.uk has repeatedly warned of the danger in recent weeks, saying that in some cases, replacing gas boilers with electric heat pumps could cost £22,000 because it involves ripping out the entire central heating system.
Eco heat pumps are also ineffective in older, poorly insulated homes, where the priority should be insulation instead, experts say.
Running costs can also be higher, because they use electricity rather than gas. Thanks to government green levies, electricity costs four times as much. So in practice, ministers are scuppering that own plans.
We have also quoted a property expert warning that installing a heat pump to make your home UNSELLABLE.
That’s because buyers don’t want them, any more than existing owners do.
Express readers have been posting their anger at the costly eco-campaign. Reader Mo wrote to say: “I do not want them and we must not be forced to install them.”
Kitchen and bathroom fitter and Dave said he has been called in to rip out heat source pumps installed by his local council in the south-west.
The owner purchased her 1950s council house via Right to Buy, and wanted advice on how to get rid of her heat pump, he wrote.
“When I arrived, two guys were trying to fix this monster. Their attendance alone would’ve cost hundreds of pounds, just to keep the thing working.”
Dave said the lady was in tears, because the pump was costing her £90 a week to run, even before the energy price cap jumped on April 1. “How anyone can believe this is the way forward is beyond me,” he said.
Dave added: “I’m sure the people who make the decisions won’t be installing one in their own homes.”
READ MORE: ‘We must ban boilers to force public to switch to £10,000 heat pumps’
Now a new threat has emerged. Under a new government review, held by the Building Research Establishment, homeowners who do not install a heat pump could see the value of their home reduced as a result.
It is reviewing home Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs), which score your home’s energy efficiency on a colour-coded scale from A-G, with ‘A’ being the most efficient.
Ministers plan to boost the scores of households that have installed heat pumps and other government-backed eco inventions such as remote-controlled thermostats, according to a report in The Daily Telegraph.
Those who shun green technology will receive a lower score.
This can reduce the value of a property or make it more difficult to rent out if a buy-to-let. In practice, homeowners could be forced to make the proper costly upgrades.
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Any savings from a heat pump will not be enough to recoup the original cost of installation, the Energy & Utilities Alliance has warned.
Experts have been lining up to condemn the plans. Andy Kerr, founder of boiler installation experts BOXT, warned that heat pumps cost five times as much as a replacement boiler to install, possibly more.
Ian Henderson, founder Boiler Plan UK, said: “Electricity actually costs four times as much as gas, so homeowners could end up paying more to heat their home.”
Mike Foster, chief executive of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, savaged the plan, which he said will cost homeowners “eye-watering sums of money that most don’t have”.
Yes instead of backing down the Government seems bent on intensifying its attack on our humble but reliable and affordable gas boilers.
The new system will be in place in 2025, less than three years away.
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