A government announcement to end fossil-fuel heating systems in all new houses from 2025 has been deemed positive news by The Association of Plumbing & Heating Contractors (APHC).
The Chancellor announced the plans in his Spring Statement following earlier proposals by the Committee for Climate Change (CCC) to take new houses off the grid altogether.
John Thompson, CEO at APHC, said: “My initial response to the Chancellor’s Spring Statement announcement to end fossil-fuel heating systems in all new houses from 2025 is positive, and I believe it is good news for heating contractors.
“Whilst the government’s advisory Committee on Climate Change published a report in February which recommended ending the connection of new homes to the gas grid by 2025, I don’t believe the Chancellor’s Spring Statement goes that far as his proposals include increasing the amount of green gas in the National Grid to replace Natural Gas from the North Sea.
“Keeping new houses connected to the gas grid also potentially means that hundreds of thousands if not millions of houses will have access to an infrastructure to enable them to adopt hydrogen, which the CCC has previously concluded is a credible option to help decarbonise the UK energy system.
“However, the devil is always in the detail, so we will keep a watchful eye on how this policy progresses, and we need to see a detailed strategy which addresses the requirements for training and development and the inevitable investment which will be required by heating contractors to move towards installing and servicing new heating technologies.”