Posted by: @jeff

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Carbon tax is going from our bills which we have talked about on this thread before.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/britain-scrap-carbon-tax-electricity-generation-april-2028-2026-04-16/

This goes into the general taxation pot so the Government will have to replace with some other sort of tax  tweak not connected to our bills as government expenditure generally shows no sign of falling.

good! This particular add-on had become unnecessary after coal had gone and was just another tax, but in the wrong place (electricity)

Further conformation of the move away from variable pricing for renewal sites on the old ROC contracts. Do it or we will tax your profits.... Be interesting too see how generous the contracts are and how long they are for, particularly for the older ROC sites closer to the end of contracts anyway. 

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/apr/21/uk-shifts-older-wind-and-solar-farms-to-fixed-price-deals-to-reduce-price-shocks

The FTSE listed renewal infrastructure companies that invested in these sites lost value in the ROC move from RPI to CPI, they may take a further hit. That will be some pensions etc. 

The end game may  be close to 100% of mass generation and storage on fixed prices, just different fixed prices. 

How this manifests itself into tariff for the general public will be interesting, particularly with more solar and battery in homes at the same time. 

@jamespa I’ve read as much as I’m willing to on this report.

The baseline against which the 6-8% saving in electricity consumption was stated is untrimmed radiators. The trimmed and both types of TRV were effectively the same. So I stopped reading there, page 26. 

An interesting comparison with the Samsung ashp though (a previous  test), which would fault on no flow whereas the Vaillant gave no heat output below its minimum flow rate (page 10) but worked fine once valves opened again. This Samsung needed the ‘fix’ of a 4 port buffer and this design feature has been used across all ASHPs for a while since.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-to-break-influence-of-gas-on-electricity-prices

£9k grant to move from oil to heat pump on boiler upgrade scheme! 

Posted by: @jeff

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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-to-break-influence-of-gas-on-electricity-prices

 

£9k grant to move from oil to heat pump on boiler upgrade scheme! 

Nice for oil driven heating clients, it does seem cost a bit more to get rid of the oil and oil tank compared to a gas home.

Posted by: @ashp-bobba

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Posted by: @jeff

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https://www.gov.uk/government/news/decisive-action-to-break-influence-of-gas-on-electricity-prices

 

£9k grant to move from oil to heat pump on boiler upgrade scheme! 

Nice for oil driven heating clients, it does seem cost a bit more to get rid of the oil and oil tank compared to a gas home. 

Comes out of general taxation rather than energy bills so the cost isn't very visible like a lot of costs related to net zero. Government debt and taxation is going to get an awful lot worse but it is what it is... 

Isn't heating oil the same as jet fuel, ie kerosene?  It is said that Europe is likely to run out in 6 weeks in which case a grant might not be needed to persuade people to convert!

Posted by: @jeff

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£9k grant to move from oil to heat pump on boiler upgrade scheme! 

How much thought has gone into the technical consequences of this move do you think?

Let's stick with GB and ignore the fuel-mix in Northern Ireland for a moment.

The majority of homes heated by oil are in rural areas, beyond the reach of the gas supply network.
Those same areas are more likely to be supplied with electricity via long 11kV overhead wires, which suffer from voltage drop.

The 11kV level of the grid must be maintained within 6% either side, which translates to 10,340v – 11,660v.

The Electrical Networks Association (ENA) is currently moving towards a reduction in LV supplies from 240v to 230v. That doesn't require any change of legislation because the Electricity Regulations, section 27 already uses 230v as the specification.

The reduced voltage will leave greater headroom for export from embedded generation, such as domestic solar panels. It becomes less likely that domestic inverters would drive the voltage above 253v, which is the statutory maximum. Hence more export could be accommodated.

However, the DNOs aren't simply going to visit all 550,000 local substations and change the transformer taps. That would be far too expensive and take years. Instead they will adjust the taps on the Primary transformers which deliver 11kV on their secondary windings.

Reducing LV from 240v to 230v is a 4% change. The 11kV level therefore moves to the envelope 99,270v – 11,194v.

So what will happen at the end of a long rural 11kV feed?
During times of peak demand (eg milking time) those rural supplies are already often dipping below 216.4v, which is the statutory minimum.

Yes most grid-tied inverters will continue to operate. G98 doesn't require them to have decoupled from the grid until the line-voltage finally dips to 184v. But somewhere between 184v – 216.4v more of that embedded generation will be lost. Consequently the line voltage falls yet further.

These voltage reductions may allow more export from renewable generation in rural areas, but at greater risk of there being a Cascade Event, when a wave of inverters cease operating across the rural countryside.

That's what happened in Badajoz on 28th April 2025, and was the final trigger which led to the Iberian Grid collapse. The loss of just 317MW of domestic embedded generation was sufficient to instigate a national grid outage. 11 people died.

Simply offering £9k grants for homeowners to install electric heat-pumps is an easy decision to make in Whitehall.

But it's a decision which isn't founded on grid data. The only local substations which have ever been monitored are ground-mounted. But 66% of 11kV/LV transformers are pole-mounted, and those are the ones in rural areas where homes are presently heated by oil.

https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/government-moves-to-break-gas-electricity-link-but-will-households-see-the-benefit/

Posted by: @jeff

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£9k grant to move from oil to heat pump on boiler upgrade scheme! 

Very curious to hear what everyone's opinion is on this. I will remain silent (for now)!

Posted by: @editor

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Posted by: @jeff

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£9k grant to move from oil to heat pump on boiler upgrade scheme! 

Very curious to hear what everyone's opinion is on this. I will remain silent (for now)!

A bit meh! TBH.  No strong opinion and not really bothered as it's such a tiny proportion of the total other than in Northern Ireland.  Perhaps the detail may stoke an opinion.  

On a related topic you posted about the previously announced changes including allowing certain hybrid solutions for bus.  If you read the actual statutory instrument the supplementary heating must not be fossil fuel based.  This expressly allows a backup electric heater or an electric ufh pad eg in a bathroom, both of which are sensible in some cases.  Because these have a COP of 1 and denies a gas/oil backup it doesn't create an  incentive or mechanism to game the system.  This a well thought through and sensible extension IMHO.

Government has just published its Final Report on a Review of Ofgem from a public consultation launched in Dec'24.

The original Call for Evidence is here at the bottom of the page, and a link to a Summary of Responses higher up.

There were more than 20,000 submissions, which is extremely high for a public consultation, with more than half being from ordinary members of the public:

Comments included Ofgem's lack of transparency, and confusion between its role as the Regulator and that of NESO, which has the remit to achieve Net Zero.

Usefully, there are comments which will resonate strongly with Members here on the RHH Forum

The high level of public response should be a wake-up call for those with an electoral mandate.
Consider drawing your MP's attention to these findings, and ask them to ensure action is taken to address public concerns.