Budget - 6 March 2024

The Chancellor missed the opportunity to equalise the duty on renewable liquid fuels in his Autumn Statement last year. The Budget is the government’s chance to make this change and show they are on the side of rural homes and businesses.

Currently, the use of renewable liquid fuels for home heating is taxed, whereas fossil fuels are not. This is counterintuitive and disincentivising take up.

The forthcoming Budget offers the opportunity to equalise the tax duties for renewable liquid fuels, making them a real option for rural households who want to reduce their home heating emissions in an affordable way.

For some properties, switching to a heat pump is an ideal solution and we fully support the use of the technology where it makes sense.

However, many properties are simply not suited to heat pumps and will require disruptive and costly changes for them to work effectively.

These changes can include new radiators, better insulation, new piping and the reintroduction of the hot water tank. The total cost can be over £20k which simply isn’t affordable or practical.

That’s why we’re campaigning for oil heated homes across the UK to instead have the choice of switching to a renewable liquid fuel called Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO).

The fuel works in an existing oil heating system following a minor modification to the boiler. This is expected to cost around £500 and can be completed in a few hours. A result, emissions are reduced by nearly 90%.

We believe this is a practical and realistic alternative solution for harder to treat properties. Fundamentally, it’s about giving households a choice so they can decide whether a heat pump or renewable liquid fuel is the best solution for them.