In a new report for the Heseltine Institute, an executive at a leading Liverpool city region housing assocation warns that decarbonising our homes could lead to rocketing fuel bills. Tony McDonough reports
People across Liverpool city region will face rocketing fuel bills if the Government doesn’t offer significant support for the decarbonisation of their homes.
That’s the view of an executive at one of Liverpool city region’s biggest housing associations who says the replacement of traditional boilers with heat pumps will push even more residents into fuel poverty.
In a new report for the University of Liverpool’s Heseltine Institute, Clare Rainsford, sustainability manager for Onward Homes, claims current policy guidance from Government on the decarbonisation of housing stock “unclear” and there is a need for a “more defined pathway to decarbonisation”, particularly for the social housing sector.
In the report – Decarbonisation in social housing: From concept to delivery – Ms Rainsford lays out the huge scale of the challenge in cutting emissions in the UK and Liverpool city region housing sector.
She explains: “Housing is a major contributor to the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions. Buildings account for 17% of total UK direct emissions, of which 77% is contributed by homes. Reducing this impact is crucial if the UK is to achieve its decarbonisation targets.”
Onward Homes owns properties in Liverpool city region, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Cheshire. Its stock includes Georgian properties, terraces built before World War I, 1960s tower blocks, and modern flats and houses. It also has extra care and sheltered housing facilities.
Ms Rainsford added: “Because social housing is required to adhere to stringent regulations such as the Decent Homes Standard, it tends to be more energy efficient than the private rented sector.
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“Over the next few years a raft of legislative and policy changes, set out in the Government’s Heat and Buildings Strategy, will require major investment from housing providers and present a huge opportunity to contribute to the decarbonisation agenda.
“Research from Savills estimates that £3.5bn per year of investment will be needed from the housing sector to achieve net zero.
“To achieve decarbonisation, Onward and other social housing providers will need to proactively reduce emissions while ensuring we keep our customers’ homes warm and prevent heating costs rising beyond affordable levels. However, there are currently several barriers to achieving this.”
She explains that before renewable sources of energy, such as solar panels, can even be considered, changes need to be made to the fabric of buildings to reduce heat loss through walls, roofs and floors. There is also a need to reduce demand through the use of tools such as smart meters.
This would be followed by the installation of low carbon heating systems, for example replacing traditional gas boilers with heat pumps. The UK Government has set an objective to install 600,000 heat pumps per year.
One barrier to this, the Government acknowledges, is that supply chains cannot currently support rapid rollout of heat pumps due to skills shortages and other supply issues. But she identifies a bigger problem for residents across Liverpool city region.
She adds: “Onward and other housing associations carry out routine boiler replacements on a regular basis, with new boilers installed now potentially in use for up to 25 years. The cost of a boiler is currently much lower than heat pumps, and the capped price of electricity (21p kWh at present) much higher than the cost of gas (4p kWh).
“Any switch from boilers to heat pumps is likely to significantly increase customer bills, and increase maintenance costs. Transitioning to heat pumps will therefore require significant investment and incentives from Government to support our customers.
“Onward is committed to decarbonisation, but this is balanced with our responsibility to customers to ensure their heating is affordable and reliable.
“Currently, the policy environment is not supportive enough for social landlords looking to rapidly decarbonise their housing stock. With customers facing a winter of rising fuel and energy costs, we need a firm plan to ensure a fair transition to net zero.”