OFTEC Chairman, Neil Sawers, urges support for Future Ready Fuels

An article appeared in the news recently, suggesting that heat pump owners could be given £200 a year off their energy bill. If it’s true – and government’s often do drip-feed things like this into the media to test ideas – it’s would be a further incentive on top of the generous £7,500 BUS grants, which mainly benefits well-to-do households. It’s also an admission that heat pumps are not always cheaper to run, despite having better efficiencies than boilers.

History tells us that it’s unwise to base an industry on subsidy, and it’s also a waste of taxpayers’ money. By contrast, our industry’s proposal of a 20% HVO blend would save 1,319,423,360 tonnes of carbon each year and cost the taxpayer nothing. To achieve the same carbon savings would require 347,000 heat pumps to be installed immediately (fewer than 50,000 heat pumps were delivered under the scheme in the last 18 months). The government’s current approach simply makes no sense.

There are encouraging signs from Scotland and Ireland that policy makers understand the value of providing citizens with a better choice of low carbon options. This shows our ideas are credible and we can still hope to influence the Labour government’s Warm Homes Plan, due this autumn, which will set out the government’s heat decarbonisation agenda for the rest of this Parliament.

It makes sense to do everything possible to get renewable liquid fuels included in this plan. To achieve this, we must put maximum pressure on rural MPs by sending them as many letters as possible. If we can make enough noise, they will then pressure the minister to do what’s needed. So, my message is simple, if you care about the future of our industry, please support the campaign – you can find out how on page 5. And, because time is short, please don’t wait – do it now.

_{Image of Neil Sawers, Chairman supplied by OFTEC}