LONDON — The government has scrapped controversial plans to fine boiler manufacturers if they miss targets for installing heat pumps.
The Clean Heat Market Mechanism (CHMM), which was due to start next month, has been “scrapped” until April 2025 in a bid to “protect consumers,” according to a statement issued by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero on Thursday afternoon.
The scheme is a central plank of government policy to decarbonize U.K. homes and help ministers hit the legally binding target of reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The CHMM, coined a “boiler tax” by its critics, was designed to increase uptake of low-carbon heat pumps by fining manufacturers if they missed targets for selling the clean technology, set relative to their boiler sales. Firms would have been fined for every boiler they installed above that target, which would have been ramped up each year.
