Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department is taking to encourage householders to change from gas heating to (a) electric heating, (b) heat pumps and (c) hydrogen-burning radiators.

Transforming how we heat our homes is one of the most difficult decarbonisation challenges facing the country. A number of options have the potential for achieving this, including heat networks, heat pumps, hydrogen and biogas. We need to continue exploring and testing different approaches to heat decarbonisation.

Through the Renewable Heat Incentive scheme we are spending £4.5 billion between 2016 and 2021 to support innovative low-carbon heat technologies in homes and businesses, including heat pumps. BEIS is considering the future policy framework for supporting electrification of heat and we are looking to launch an electrification of heat demonstration project in 2019 to inform our thinking on the feasibility of a large-scale transition to heat pumps.

For hydrogen as an option for decarbonising heat, more work is needed to prove the safety and feasibility case as well as to gain a better understanding of the costs and benefits. BEIS is currently working towards building a programme of work to address these evidence gaps in partnership with industry, academia and other key stakeholders. This includes the £25m BEIS-funded Hy4Heat programme, which is exploring the safety of using 100% hydrogen for heating in buildings and the development of domestic hydrogen boilers.