A group of Scottish politicians is warning that the government’s plan to force households to install heat pumps by 2033 is not feasible in rural areas, The Telegraph reports.
Four members of parliament from different parties, all representing rural areas of Scotland, have signed a letter calling for an “urgent review” of the SNP-Green government’s proposal to require households to install electric-powered heat pumps.
Scottish buildings minister Patrick Harvie, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, introduced a reforms package to “decarbonise” Scotland’s homes and bring them in line with “new energy efficiency standards no later than 2033.” His proposed reforms of the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating system may even make it impossible to sell a home that does not have a heat pump system installed.
Already in 2021, Scotland’s energy minister admitted that installing a heat pump in a home would cost about £10,000 and be more expensive to run than a fossil fuel boiler, which costs approximately £2,500 to install. But in rural areas, the costs of installing a heat pump are estimated to soar to as much as £32,000.
At the same time, industry experts have warned that heat pumps are not appropriate for the coldest areas of Scotland as their efficiency drops drastically in below-freezing temperatures. They also caution that the remote, sparsely populated regions are not integrated well enough into the gas-electric grid to handle so many new heating systems coming online, which could potentially cause power outages in the dead of winter.
All this has led a small group of rural Scottish lawmakers to come together against the planned reforms.
The letter to the Scottish government, seen by The Telegraph, demands a thorough rethinking of the proposal. It was crafted by Fergus Ewing, a former SNP government cabinet secretary, and signed by Labour and Tory MSPs. Ewing told The Telegraph,
By seeking to reform EPCs and forcing rural homeowners to rely on electrified heating alone from 2025, the Scottish Government is taking an approach to decarbonisation that will pose a serious risk to those living in remote areas.
Not only does it threaten to burden off-grid property owners with overwhelming costs, but it also leaves them vulnerable to extreme-weather-induced power outages and disregards the realities of inefficient rural and islands’ electricity grids and infrastructure.
Douglas Lumsden, the Scottish Tory shadow energy minister, another signatory of the letter, called the proposals “deeply unfair on Scotland’s rural communities”:
If we are to reach net zero, we need to do so in a way that is fair, affordable, and which offers choice to Scottish homeowners. Given the timescales involved, ministers must urgently review these proposals.
Rhoda Grant, a Scottish Labour MSP for the Highlands and Islands, accused the Scottish Government of appearing “to penalise those living off the gas grid, despite their existing disadvantages,” with its current approach.
The fourth signatory to the letter was Tory Liam Kerr, who also represents North East Scotland.
The Scottish government has estimated that reaching its net-zero emissions building goals will cost £33 billion but has so far only allocated £1.8 billion in financial support to the effort.
The politicians urged the government to adopt “a mixed-use technology approach,” possibly including renewable liquid gases.
