SNP faces major heat pump rebellion with taxpayers set to be hit with ‘exorbitant’ bills
Homeowners residing in rural Scotland are set to face “exorbitant” bills and heating breakdowns after Humza Yousaf pressured them to set up heat pumps, a cross-party group of MSPs declare.
Ministers have issued a warning in regards to the injury the plans might trigger for distant properties in areas such because the Highlands.
Fergus Ewing, a former SNP authorities cupboard secretary, has now organised a letter signed by Labour and Tory MSPs.
It means that putting in heat pumps or different electrical types of heating would both be “exorbitantly” costly or completely unfeasible in lots of houses not linked to the fuel grid.
The letter provides that some houses within the coldest components of Scotland might see their heating reduce off if there are outages brought on by excessive climate.
The group of 4 MSPs, who symbolize a few of Scotland’s most rural communities, have demanded an “urgent review” into the plans.
Patrick Harvie, the Green Party zero carbon buildings minister, has mentioned the Scottish Government wished “all homes to reach new energy efficiency standards by no later than 2033”.
In addition, owners might be banned from promoting their properties from 2025 until they set up heat pumps, in accordance to controversial reforms to the Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) scores system
However, a current ballot revealed that 80 per cent of off-grid property homeowners warned the price of putting in a heat pump would be unaffordable, MSPs declare.
The estimated price of changing all houses to “zero emissions” is £33 billion.
However the Scottish Government have solely supplied an preliminary package deal of assist of solely £1.8 billion.
A method printed by ministers in 2021 admitted that the typical price of putting in a heat pump is round £10,000, 4 occasions the £2,500 price of a brand new fossil-fuel boiler.
“By in search of to reform EPCs and forcing rural owners to depend on electrified heating alone from 2025, the Scottish Government is taking an method to decarbonisation that may pose a critical threat to these residing in distant areas,” Ewing, a former rural economic system secretary and the SNP MSP for Inverness and Nairn mentioned.
“Not solely does it threaten to burden off-grid property homeowners with overwhelming prices, but it surely additionally leaves them susceptible to extreme-weather-induced energy outages and disregards the realities of inefficient rural and islands’ electrical energy grids and infrastructure.”
Douglas Lumsden, the Scottish Tory shadow power minister and one other signatory of the letter, added: “These present proposals are deeply unfair on Scotland’s rural communities.
“If we’re to attain internet zero, we’d like to accomplish that in a approach that’s truthful, inexpensive, and which provides selection to Scottish owners. Given the timescales concerned, ministers should urgently overview these proposals.”
