The Government has been accused of “wasteful and baffling” moves to pay poorer households to install new gas boilers.
The move comes just as the Government is expected to reveal its strategy to shift away from the carbon-polluting technology, with reports households could receive grants worth thousands of pounds to install clean alternatives such as heat pumps.
Documents from the Business Department show how the energy company obligation (Eco), which uses money raised from surcharges on energy bills to pay for efficiency measures such as insulation in fuel poor homes, could also see 20,000 homes get new central heating systems with gas boilers.
Homes account for around 14% of the UK’s climate pollution, with the vast majority getting their heating and hot water from fossil fuel gas boilers which produce carbon dioxide.
Cutting the pollution from households is a key part of the UK’s efforts to meet its legal climate goals to reduce greenhouse gases to zero overall by 2050.
Experts also warn that gas boilers expose families to air pollution, and with gas prices on the rise, could be a more expensive option than running a heat pump, although the clean technology is currently much more costly to install.
Jess Ralston, analyst with the Energy, Climate and Intelligence Unit, said: “While it’s important that vulnerable households are supported in staying warm at home, installing new fossil fuel boilers – which contribute to harmful air pollution in homes that are already more likely to have poor air quality – just means that fuel poor families are locked into dirtier, more expensive and more unhealthy heating systems for longer."
Jan Rosenow, Europe director at the Regulatory Assistance Project, said: “Reducing carbon emissions from our homes is absolutely critical to meet the climate targets.
“But paying people to install new heating systems running on fossil fuels is incompatible with the UK’s climate goals."
A Business Department (Beis) spokesperson said: “While we remain committed to transitioning away from gas boilers over the next 15 years, we make no apology for supporting low-income households in the short term to replace a limited number of the most inefficient gas boilers, thereby cutting energy bills and carbon emissions."
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