The National Infrastructure Commission’s unrealistic recommendations do billpayers a disservice
4 min read
The Commission is well-respected and gets lots of things right, but on hydrogen it needs to think again.
As a proud CEO in a British industry, I know first-hand that getting to net zero is one of the most important challenges of our time.
But it is critical we do this in a way that doesn’t harm hardworking people with permanently high costs.
Millions of us currently use gas boilers to heat our homes and keep our families warm on cold winter nights. And while gas is an essential and reliable energy source – over time it makes sense to replace gas boilers with newer and cleaner options.
But last week the National Infrastructure Commission did British billpayers a disservice by recommending that we should rule out hydrogen as one of these options.
Hydrogen is a clean and secure energy source – and can be delivered to millions of homes up and down the country using our existing pipes.
But in its report, the Commission argued that we should all be installing heat pumps instead, at a cost of billions of pounds a year for British taxpayers.
The Commission is full of well-respected and eminent thinkers. But they have fallen into the same trap as those before them, and failed to recognise the realities facing the UK.
Heat pumps are too expensive for many households. The typical cost of buying and installing one is an eye watering £13,000. Most families simply cannot afford that upfront cost, and neither can the country by subsidising them with taxpayer money.
And in many homes it is simply not possible to install a heat pump. The Commission themselves say that one in ten homes may be unsuitable for a heat pump; and for everyone else, large-scale renovations such as larger radiators, double glazing, and costly insulation will be required. They also take longer to warm homes up than other options – when you take all of this into consideration, you can see how the case for them falls apart.
As the Prime Minister himself rightly said recently, a heat pump is not going to be the right solution for every household.
Nor is it the right solution for other buildings. Many hospitals, schools, swimming pools and libraries use gas boilers too. With budgets tight, why should we hike up public sector spending to install heat pumps instead?
What we really need is a range of options for people to choose from when it comes to putting the heating on.
Hydrogen can and should be one of those options.
It is a critical tool in the route to net zero; it burns without producing carbon.
It is good for our energy security; it can be produced and stored at scale here in the UK.
It can be delivered cost effectively because we don’t need to introduce new devices in homes to deliver it. The UK has a vast array of existing gas pipe infrastructure – both offshore in the North Sea but also onshore – with 284,000km of pipes which can be repurposed for hydrogen with minimal disruption. The idea that we should pay billions to scrap all this infrastructure, and then make people pay billions more again to replace it with pylons is nonsensical.
And do not forget that over one million British jobs, from the North Sea to our boiler engineers who we trust into our homes, are reliant on gas today. Rather than losing those jobs, it surely makes sense to repurpose them to deliver hydrogen.
Hydrogen is not a cure-all. It is only part of the solution when it comes to the energy transition. But for many households it is the cheaper and more practical answer.
On lots of issues, the National Infrastructure Commission get it right, but I urge them to consider the challenges and practicalities of this route. Just as I urge politicians in the strongest possible terms to look at the common-sense evidence and take another path.
Let’s give hydrogen the backing it deserves and let consumer keep the comforts and warmth of an affordable and resilient energy system.
Jon Butterworth is the CEO of National Gas.
PoliticsHome Newsletters
Get the inside track on what MPs and Peers are talking about. Sign up to The House's morning email for the latest insight and reaction from Parliamentarians, policy-makers and organisations.
