Gas boiler owners 'will subsidise heat pump users' with new levy under Ed Miliband's £15billion energy plans
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband is expected to unveil a bumper £15billion warm homes plan next month following months of discussions with the Treasury over costs.
By MARK DUELL, SENIOR REPORTER
Published: 11:31 GMT, 31 December 2025 | Updated: 11:34 GMT, 31 December 2025
Britons with gas boilers could face a £30 green levy on their energy bills to subsidise heat pump owners under plans allegedly being considered by Ed Miliband.
The Energy Secretary is expected to unveil a bumper £15billion warm homes plan next month following months of discussions with the Treasury over costs.
Mr Miliband is hoping to make gas users pay to encourage the uptake of heat pumps by imposing the levy to artificially cut electricity bills, reported The Times.
The Government is trying to move away from gas because its price is far more volatile amid a push towards what ministers claim will be cheaper renewable energy.
The cost per unit of gas at 6.29p per kilowatt-hour (kWh) under the Ofgem price cap is currently a quarter of the electricity rate at 26.35p - known as the 'spark gap'.
It comes after the Chancellor said last month she was trying to cut energy bills and the overall cost of living, with £150 off the average household bill from next year.
Rachel Reeves said in the Budget announcement that she would do this by scrapping the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme introduced by the Conservatives in government, which she claimed had cost households £1.7billion a year on their bills.
Ending the ECO, which saw insulation and modern heating systems funded by a levy on all energy bills, meant a cut in average gas bills of about £30 a year per household.
An engineer carries out a gas boiler inspection in a property (stock photo)
Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Ed Miliband at 10 Downing Street on December 9
But Mr Miliband's plans mean such a benefit could now be wiped out – and energy campaigners suggested a range of alternatives for the Government to consider.
Simon Francis, coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, told the Daily Mail today: 'We need to move away from gas as our main heating source in the long term.
'While bringing down electricity prices is key to this, there are plenty of other options we'd urge the Secretary of State to consider before putting up gas bills which will make heating even less affordable for millions of households.
'For example, we could see GB Energy invest in infrastructure so some of these costs could be taken off bills. The Government could reform how electricity pricing is set and reduce the impact of the role of energy market trading on prices.