Plans to ban new gas boilers from 2035 will be ditched by the Government — despite push to switch to heat pumps

PLANS to ban new gas boilers from 2035 will be ditched by the Government — despite a push to encourage homeowners to switch to heat pumps.

Ministers have said they still expect most homes to adopt the greener technology, even though it is in short supply.

Heat pumps, which are powered by electricity, are currently used by only one per cent of households and cost thousands of pounds more than gas boilers.

But the Government has promised to extend a £7,500 subsidy for those prepared to switch.

It declined to comment ahead of publication of its “warm homes plan”, which will offer new detail on how the move to low-carbon heating methods can be achieved.

In March, The Sun reported that plans to swap boilers for heat pumps were already hitting the skids.

Costs were high, most people did not know what the pumps are or why they should care, the National Audit Office found.

The Government wanted to install 600,000 energy-efficient, low-carbon pumps a year by 2028, and up to 1.6million a year by 2035.

But in a recent boiler upgrade scheme, 18,900 were installed between May and December 2023, well under the 50,000 expected by that point.

NAO said more data was needed to help people assess whether the change was worth it.

NAO chief Gareth Davies said: “Government needs to engage every household to achieve its objective to decarbonise home heating as part of the transition to net zero.

“The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) progress in making households aware and encouraging them to switch to low-carbon alternatives has been slower than expected.”