The ban on installing new oil boilers from 2026

Oil and gas boilers release carbon dioxide and therefore contribute to climate change. The government is planning to ban the installation of new oil boilers from 2026. New gas boilers (the main heating source in the UK) are banned for new homes from 2025 and all properties by 2035.

The fact that the deadline for oil boilers is now so close could make life difficult for roughly 1.7 million people mainly in rural communities. There has been very little discussion about the cost implications for these citizens if their boilers need replacing.

The first thing you need to do is to be clear about the likely lifetime of your oil boiler and check this out with whoever services your boiler. If you have a relatively new boiler you probably don’t need to worry too much as the maintenance of oil boilers will still be allowed. You should probably start looking at insulation grants as anything you can do to improve your home's insulation will help with your options longer term.

If your boiler is quite old and may need replacing in the next few years then you have a problem.

The main option recommended by the government is to install an air source heat pump in place of your oil boiler. These run off electricity and the theory is that if we can generate our electricity from renewables we can then heat our homes without impacting the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. You can get a grant of £5000 to £6000 towards the cost of an air source heat pump but the total cost of the installation can be significantly more.

The other problem is that air source heat pumps don’t work well in a poorly insulated house and you will almost certainly need your radiators changing to ensure your house will be warm enough. Insulation is something we should all be doing anyway and there are insulation grants available but again it comes at a cost which can be substantial.

The other option is to replace your oil boiler in the next couple of years so you have a new boiler in place before the ban (a boiler should last 15 to 30 years). This will have the opposite impact to what was intended by the ban as we will end up having a wave of new installations instead of alternative options.

There is a possibility oil boilers will be allowed to remain operational if they transition to more environmentally friendly fuels such as hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), which can serve as a replacement fuel with minor adjustments. However, whether this will be allowed isn’t clear at the moment. Clearly this would be a cost effective alternative.

There are other options like ground source heat pumps (you need garden space), biomass boilers (there is a dispute about carbon neutral this technology is) and electric storage heaters and radiators (very expensive to run and there are no government grants).

There is no need to panic and government rulings may change but if you have an oil boiler you definitely need to start thinking about what you are going to do.

The UK government has since delayed the phasing out of oil boilers till 2035.