Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) News

There are increasing concerns that civil servants in the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) are attempting to undermine the Prime Minister’s attempts to reset the UK’s net zero policies. In a briefing issued to the heating industry only hours after the PM’s net zero speech officials outlined their continuing approach to “encouraging” households to fit heat pumps, retaining unrealistic targets for heat pump installations and their commitment to th...

Fresh data on the government’s failing Boiler Upgrade Scheme confirms what the industry fears about the cause of slow growth in the heat pump market. Figures released by the energy regulator Ofgem, show a consistent but low number of applications for the £5000 BUS subsidy, compared to what the government expected. heat pump installers Pioneering energy trade body, the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) believes these figures confirm their view that there are too few trained heat...

Following recent concerns expressed by the Competition and Markets Authority over misleading claims around green heating, energy trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) are urging consumers to ‘stick some on the card’ as a way of protecting themselves when buying a heat pump. The EUA has teamed up with Lincoln Green Solicitors, who specialize in seeking consumer redress when heat pumps do not perform as promised, to promote a simple way of protecting consumers. Cost-free adv...

The heating industry met with Whitehall officials recently to warn them of the dire economic consequences for UK manufacturing and UK consumers of their plans to promote heat pumps. Clean Heat Market Mechanism Under the Clean Heat Market Mechanism, currently being considered by MPs in the Energy Bill, boiler manufacturers in the UK face being fined over £300 million next year if consumers do not fit heat pumps. According to the Government’s figures, an average heat pump...

The future of heating homes in rural areas has been kept secret until after the local elections, claims the CEO of leading trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), Mike Foster. His claim comes as the industry waits for the Government's response to a consultation that closed 15 months ago. delayed publication  In the consultation, the Government planned to ban the replacement of fossil fuel boilers, oil, and LPG, from 2026 accepting that consumers would face considerably higher cos...

The UK's energy trade body, the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) has accused the UK Government of “selling British manufacturers down the river”, in suggesting British boiler makers will be fined when supplying UK consumers but foreign manufacturers won’t. Boiler tax Writing to the Minister, Lord Callanan, Mike Foster the CEO of EUA asked what assurances German, France, and the Netherlands had given him to pay the so-called “boiler tax” of £5000 for every...

Full-year figures for the Government’s much-publicized Boiler Upgrade Scheme show it has failed to meet the target of boilers replaced by taxpayer-subsidized heat pumps. The scheme had a budget of £150 million to fund 30,000 heat pump installations. At the end of its first year, under 10,000 households had received their £5000 subsidy voucher. The scheme’s unspent budget will now be returned to the Treasury. Scheme failure  Commenting on the scheme’s failure...

A proposed Government heat pump production quota announced by UK Energy Secretary - Grant Shapps could threaten the United Kingdom (UK) with job losses and price hikes on boilers, a heating industry expert has said. Mechanism for low carbon heat  Branded an 'out of touch' and 'absurd' policy by Mike Foster, CEO of the trade body - the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), the Market-based mechanism for low carbon heat proposes British heating manufacturers’ heat pump sales should rep...

Mike Foster, CEO of the Energy and Utilities Alliance, said, “We warmly welcome the decision to extend the Energy Price Guarantee, helping to protect consumers against a 20 percent increase from April." "It’s good that the Chancellor has listened to us in the energy industry as well as consumer champions who have all backed this move." Transition to a hydrogen economy “What we now need is for the Chancellor to listen to the industry again, by supporting the move towards a hy...

Following comments made in the Sunday Telegraph (26.2.2023), the Chief Executive of energy trade body, Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), has written to the Minister asking for urgent clarification of Government policy. In the newspaper article, Lord Callanan states, “Nobody’s going to be forced to ditch their boiler” and that forcing “Households to replace gas boilers with heat pumps would be against the British character.” Fossil fuel boilers While agreeing...

The energy trade body, the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA) has called for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS) to end, likening it to a ‘sick dog that needs to be put down.’ EUA’s Chief Executive, Mike Foster, made this call following another poor take-up of subsidized heat pumps in January and after Parliament was told that any underspend on the scheme cannot be rolled forward to the following year, but will instead be clawed back by the Treasury. Policy flaws Mike Foster sa...

The trade body, Energy and Utilities Alliance, has applauded the Government for announcing its intention to switch UK boilers from natural gas to hydrogen-ready gas boilers. These boilers will become mandatory from 2026, under the plans announced. A hydrogen-ready boiler, out of its box, will run on natural gas and at the point when the gas network switched to hydrogen, it can be converted in the home to use 100 percent hydrogen. This conversion is similar to the 1960s conversion from Towns Gas...

The proposed ban on oil boilers from 2026 is about to get real for millions, as the government grapples with implementing their policy that will cost each household an extra £11,000. Replacing broken oil boiler According to exclusive polling on the subject, conducted by trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), MPs will face the wrath of voters if they try to enforce the ban, with 85 percent of voters promising not to support their MP if they enforced the ban. The off-grid boiler b...

Mike Foster, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), said: “The Chancellor confirming the energy price cap will see a whopping increase up to £3,000 in April will inevitably worry millions of hard-pressed families. Our recent consumer survey found 78% of Brits support keeping the price cap on energy bills in place, so an increase that plunges millions into fuel poverty is not what any households wanted to see.” He adds, “This is part...

The pioneering trade body, the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), has announced an ambitious target for UK homes to achieve net zero. While world leaders discuss global issues at COP27, here at home the EUA wants to see 15 million UK homes made net zero-ready by 2035. Calling for this ambitious target, Chief Executive Mike Foster said, “Having net zero homes is a must for the Government and we want to help deliver this for them. That’s why we want to see 15 million UK homes f...

The energy regulator, Ofgem, has been challenged by a leading energy trade body to examine the real-world consequence of shifting homes from gas onto heat pumps. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), Mike Foster, has written to the regulator - Jonathan Brearley, calling for a village-sized trial of decarbonizing homes using heat pumps. The trial will mirror that currently being considered for homes to be converted to hydrogen, another option being considered...

Mike Foster, CEO of the not-for-profit trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), has called on the UK Government to get on with delivering the vision it laid out in 2019 to make the UK a ‘world-leading hydrogen economy’. Mr. Foster’s call follows that of FTSE 250 boss Liam Condon of Johnson Matthey, who told the Financial Times that the UK has fallen behind others in the hydrogen energy race. Hydrogen energy race Mr Foster said: “The UK Government needs to stop d...

Speculation that the energy Price Cap will soar to over £3,300 by October and further to £4,200 in January 2023 has called into question whether subsidizing heat pump installations is the best use of taxpayer’s cash. According to the latest figures for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, 2,000 heat pump installations were given a subsidy of £5,000 in July, costing the taxpayer £10 million. Energy efficiency measures In response, not-for-profit trade body the Energy and Ut...

The expected surge in the energy price cap to a rumored £4,266 in January 2023 is not only causing distress for households but has also blown a hole in the Government's domestic heating strategy. That’s the warning from the industry body, the Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), which slammed the Government’s Heat and Building Strategy unveiled in October 2021, which includes a key commitment to mass heat pump rollouts in British homes instead of gas boilers.  domestic h...

Speculation that the energy Price Cap will soar to over £ 3,300 by October 2022 and further to £ 4,200 in January 2023 has called into question whether subsidizing heat pump installations is the best use of taxpayer’s cash. According to the latest figures for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme (BUS), 2,000 heat pump installations were given a subsidy of £ 5,000 in July 2022, costing the taxpayer £ 10 million. Subsidy should target energy efficiency measures in homes Data...

Evidence of heat pump costs for French consumers blows a hole in UK government policy, a renowned energy trade body has claimed. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), Mike Foster, believes this new evidence renders UK heat decarbonization plans ‘useless’ and calls for a Government re-set. Current government policy believes heat pump costs will fall by 25-50 per cent by 2025 and reach parity with a gas boiler by 2030. The average heat pump costs ar...

Evidence of heat pump costs for French consumers blows a hole in UK government policy, an energy trade body has claimed. Chief Executive of Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), Mike Foster, believes this new evidence renders the UK heat decarbonization plans “useless” and calls for a Government re-set. Current government policy believes heat pump costs will fall by 25-50 percent by 2025 and reach parity with a gas boiler by 2030. The average heat pump costs around £10,000 to i...

Facing a cost of living crisis, with energy bills soaring, Whitehall bureaucrats and their Minister Lord Callanan have devised a cunning new plan. Called the “market mechanism”, this new scheme will penalize British boiler manufacturers if they do not fit heat pumps, even though the Government’s climate change advisers acknowledge this will increase heating bills by an average of 10 percent. So-called market mechanism Commenting on the market mechanism plans, CEO of the not-...

The Government has committed to hydrogen heating for UK homes in a landmark speech by one of the key ministers responsible for energy strategy. In a debate on the potential for hydrogen and a new HyNet Hydrogen Village trial at Whitby near Ellesmere Port, which is running alongside the Hy4Heat program, the Rt Hon George Freeman, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, welcomed the trials as a vital first step towards gathering the necessary evidence...

Buying a heat pump is a financially irrational investment according to a new study from the not-for-profit trade body Energy and Utilities Alliance (EUA), who examined a range of decisions with modern capital investment appraisal techniques used by economists and accountants. The analysis, for the first time, combines both the upfront costs to install a heat pump compared to a new gas boiler, with annual running costs for a heat pump with a range of efficiencies. Financial rational investment...