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Boris Johnson‘s green and anti-obesity projects could end up costing Britain’s households more than £28,000 each over the coming decade if they are fully implemented, it emerged today.
The Prime Minister is considering a range of eco-friendly policies during his tenure such as a ban on new fossil-fuelled cars including hybrids by 2033.
And he yesterday knocked back his own food tsar Henry Dimbleby’s proposal for a sugar tax designed to force people to lose weight that would have slapped an extra £240 on a family-of-four’s food bill.
Combined with Mr Johnson’s proposals for energy efficiency including banning the installation of new gas boilers, the high-minded projects could potentially cost the average British household thousands of pounds in extra costs over the next decade.
Most of the hit to consumers’ pockets is from the comparatively high cost of green home heating solutions – such as £11,000 heat pumps – and electric cars, compared to petrol-powered cars and gas boilers, although Ministers expect these to come down in price as technology develops.
John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told MailOnline: ‘Working taxpayers are being battered by demands for more cash. Struggling families face paying more for cars, heating, holidays and food, all when the tax burden is already at a 70-year high.
‘Politicians must come back down to planet earth and focus on cutting these burdens, not get carried away with their pet projects and expensive targets.’
The average cost of buying a new electric vehicle is £44,000, according to industry figures – well above the average of £29,000 for a new medium-sized car.
But there is also a growing used electric car market, with second-hand models starting from £4,000 for a budget Nissan Leaf, or £11,000 for a BMW i3.Â
The Prime Minister also wants to end the sale of oil-fired boilers by 2028 and gas boilers by 2033, as well as requiring all homes to be properly insulated.
And a series of energy efficiency measures – such as improving insulation and installing low carbon boilers – could cost an extra £10,500 per home. Â
However, some good news for families came yesterday as the PM turned down demands from Mr Dimbleby for a tax on sugary and salty food.
It followed fury that the ‘nanny state meddling’ could leave people £60 a year worse off, with a ‘snack tax’ adding £3.4billion a year to families’ shopping bills.Â
Speaking about the proposed ‘snack tax’, Mr O’Connell added: ‘This is yet another case of middle-class meddling that will hit the poorest families hardest, as this madcap scheme will hike up costs of everyday essentials.
‘Not only do the high priests of the nanny state think that ordinary folk can’t look after themselves, they also can’t resist dipping their hands into taxpayers’ pockets.
‘The government must reject outright any tax hikes and instead trust British families to make their own choices.’
Boris Johnson on July 1 during a visit to Nissan in Sunderland following the announcement by the car company that it is to create thousands of jobs making batteries for electric vehicles
Heat pumps, which look like air conditioning units, suck energy from the air and use it to heat homes and are more efficient than using fossil fuel technologies
A new gas-fired boiler costs about £1,500 with installation, compared to up to £11,000 for an air source heat pump or £19,000 for a ground source heat pump.
The Government has set a target of 600,000 heat pumps being installed every year until 2028 to replace current gas boilers and help bring down emissions.Â
The pumps, which look like air conditioning units outside buildings, suck energy from the air and use it to heat homes and are more efficient than using fossil fuel technologies.Â
Traditional boilers are viewed as a major barrier to the UK’s target of achieving ‘net zero’ carbon emissions by 2050 which was put in place with the aim of slowing the effects of climate change.
Conservative former minister Steve Baker is among those who has issued a warning over a ban on gas boilers, previously saying it could spark consumer anger.
Households also face an estimated £209 bill for new light fittings after the ban on sales of halogen bulbs from September, with an average of 4.4 new fittings each.
It comes as reports emerged yesterday that green taxes on cars and planes are likely to be introduced as part of the Government’s delayed Transport Decarbonisation Plan.
A ban on selling HGVs by 2040, cheaper public transport and more electric vehicle charging points are also under consideration. Â
Further ‘carbon pricing’ for flights could be introduced while a road pricing scheme could offset the anticipated loss of fuel duty from electric vehicles.Â
Homebuyers buying brand new homes in the next four years are also expected to have to spend £20,000 to retrofit them with energy efficient measures.
This is because the Government’s proposed future homes standard commencement date is 2025, amid hopes that 300,000 new homes a year will be built by this point.
Ground source heat pumps circulate a mixture of water and antifreeze around a ground loop pipe. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid and then passes through a heat exchanger, and running costs will depend on the size of the home
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air at low temperature into a fluid to heat your house and hot water. They extract renewable heat from the environment, meaning the heat output is greater than the electricity input
If hydrogen is part of a zero-carbon future, it could have to be produced by electrolysis (as shown above), which sees electric currents passed through water. Another option is for the plants to capture the carbon emissions and pump them underground
The green plan announced yesterday seeks to eliminate greenhouse-gas emissions from aviation, with all domestic flights required to be net zero by 2040.
It promotes a switch to low-carbon biofuels, while emissions registered from 2040 will have to be offset using carbon-reduction programmes.Â
The target will cover international flights in and out of the UK from 2050. Under the plan there would also be a ban on the sale of all new diesel HGVs by 2040.Â
Last week, Mr Johnson insisted householders will not have to pay ‘unreasonable’ costs as old gas boilers are ditched in favour of cleaner heating systems.
The Prime Minister promised to set out a new strategy before the Cop26 climate summit he is hosting later this year.
Homes contribute around 15 per cent of the UK’s carbon emissions and cleaning up fossil fuel heating systems, mostly gas boilers, is needed to meet legal targets to cut climate pollution to zero overall.
By the mid-2030s, all newly installed heating systems are expected to be low carbon, such as air source heat pumps, or be appliances that can be converted to a clean fuel supply, such as hydrogen instead of natural gas.
The Climate Change Committee has advised that sales of gas boilers for homes should largely be phased out by 2033.
Mr Johnson acknowledged there were major challenges to face in cleaning up domestic heating.
‘This is something that is very difficult to pull off because what we need to do is to ensure that we are able to heat people’s homes and provide them with power in an affordable way whilst also reducing CO2,’ he told MPs on the Liaison Committee.
The Prime Minister said the Government was working with industry to ‘drive the bills down’ but at the moment heat pumps were ‘about 10 grand a pop’.
‘What we can’t have is a situation in which ordinary homeowners… are suddenly faced with an unexpected and unreasonable cost,’ he said.
‘We have got to make sure that when we embark on this programme that we have a solution that is affordable and that works for people.’
Cost of gas boiler alternatives
GROUND SOURCE HEAT PUMPS (£14,000 – £19,000)
Ground source heat pumps use pipes buried in the garden to extract heat from the ground, which can then heat radiators, warm air heating systems and hot water.
They circulate a mixture of water and antifreeze around a ground loop pipe. Heat from the ground is absorbed into the fluid and then passes through a heat exchanger.
Installation costs between £14,000 to £19,000 depending on the length of the loop, and running costs will depend on the size of the home and its insulation.
Users may be able to receive payments for the heat they generate through the Government’s renewable heat incentive. The systems normally come with a two or three year warranty – and work for at least 20 years, with a professional check every three to five years.
AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMPS (£11,000)
Air source heat pumps absorb heat from the outside air at low temperature into a fluid to heat your house and hot water. They can still extract heat when it is as cold as -15C (5F), with the fluid passing through a compressor which warms it up and transfers it into a heating circuit.
They extract renewable heat from the environment, meaning the heat output is greater than the electricity input – and they are therefore seen as energy efficient.
There are two types, which are air-to-water and air-to-air, and installing a system costs £9,000 to £11,000, depending on the size of your home and its insulation.
A typical three-bedroom home is said to be able to save £2,755 in ten years by using this instead of a gas boiler.
HYDROGEN BOILERS (£1,500 – £5,000)
Hydrogen boilers are still only at the prototype phase, but they are being developed so they can run on hydrogen gas or natural gas – so can therefore convert without a new heating system being required.
The main benefit of hydrogen is that produces no carbon dioxide at the point of use, and can be manufactured from either water using electricity as a renewable energy source, or from natural gas accompanied by carbon capture and storage.
A hydrogen-ready boiler is intended to be a like-for-like swap for an existing gas boiler, but the cost is unknown, with estimates ranging from £1,500 to £5,000.
The boiler is constructed and works in mostly the same way as an existing condensing boiler, with Worcester Bosch – which is producing a prototype – saying converting a hydrogen-ready boiler from natural gas to hydrogen will take a trained engineer around an hour.
SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC PANELS (£4,800)
Solar photovoltaic panels generate renewable electricity by converting energy from the sun into electricity, with experts saying they will cut electricity bills.
Options include panels fitted on a sloping south-facing roof or flat roof, ground-standing panels or solar tiles – with each suitable for different settings. They are made from layers of semi-conducting material, normally silicon, and electrons are knocked loose when light shines on the material which creates an electricity flow.
The cells can work on a cloudy day but generate more electricity when the sunshine is stronger. The electricity generated is direct current (DC), while household appliances normally use alternating current (AC) – and an inverter is therefore installed with the system.
The average domestic solar PV system is 3.5 kilowatts peak (kWp) – the rate at which energy is generated at peak performance, such as on a sunny afternoon. A 1kWp set of panels will produce an average of 900kWh per year in optimal conditions, and the cost is £4,800.
SOLAR WATER HEATING (£5,000)
Solar water heating systems, or solar thermal systems, use heat from the sun to warm domestic hot water.
A conventional boiler or immersion heater can then be used to make the water hotter, or to provide hot water when solar energy is unavailable.
The system works by circulating a liquid through a panel on a roof, or on a wall or ground-mounted system.
The panels absorb heat from the sun, which is used to warm water kept in a cylinder, and those with the system will require a fair amount of roof space receiving direct sunlight for much of the day to make it effectively.
The cost of installing a typical system is between £4,000 and £5,000, but the savings are lower than other options because it is not as effective in the winter months.
BIOMASS BOILERS (£5,000 – £19,000)
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The renewable energy source of biomass is generated from burning wood, plants and other organic matter such as manure or household waste. It releases carbon dioxide when burned, but much less than fossil fuels.
Biomass heating systems can burn wood pellets, chips or logs to heat a single room or power central heating and hot water boilers.
A stove can also be fitted with a back boiler to provide water heating, and experts say a wood-fuelled biomass boiler could save up to £700 a year compared to a standard electric heating system.
An automatically-fed pellet boiler for an average home costs between £11,000 and £19,000, including installation, flue and fuel store. Manually fed log boiler systems can be slightly cheaper, while a smaller domestic biomass boiler starts at £5,000.
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