By Rico Wojtulewicz, Director of Policy and Market Insight at the National Federation of Builders
The Future Homes Standard (FHS) will be announced soon, which will bring a raft of problems. Most notable is mandating solar panels, for which there has been no impact assessment for grid capacity, and where local authorities may have the power to set their own rules on batteries through planning conditions, which will add additional cost. This does not mean that batteries are not useful – they could be used to store cheaper off-peak energy for more conventional electric heating – but builders should have the flexibility to choose what is viable and best for their developments.
The Government should also recognise that air source heat pumps, seen as a silver bullet, should be one of many approaches to heating homes. A recent survey that shows 66% of heat pump owners have to pay more to heat their homes than they did with previous solutions demonstrates this. Other innovative technology like whole development ground source heat pumps should be welcomed. Nobody should have to live in a cold, hard-to-heat home because of Government policy inflexibility.
