UK’s shift to hydrogen energy could see sharp rise in bills, government warned

13th April 2023


Blending hydrogen into the UK's gas grid could lead to a sharp rise in consumer energy bills and only a relatively small reduction in emissions, a coalition of green groups has warned.

In a letter to the Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Grant Shapps, the group – which includes E3G and WWF-UK – warns that a 20% hydrogen blend would increase gas costs by around 16%, while only reducing emissions by 7%.

This is due to inefficiencies in burning hydrogen, with the letter also suggesting that the move could lead to accusations of greenwash as the public is told that “gas has gone green”, despite hydrogen-ready boilers continuing to burn fossil fuels for decades to come.

The warning comes in response to the recent Hydrogen Champion Report to government, which sets out recommendations for developing the UK’s hydrogen economy.

“We disagree with the report’s recommendation to stimulate demand for hydrogen through blending and heating,” the letter states. “This puts the early costs of building the hydrogen economy on the shoulders of consumers, who will bear the costs of higher energy bills and costs of conversion – on top of the proposed ‘hydrogen levy’ set out in the Energy Bill.

“As hydrogen is more expensive than the gas currently used to heat most UK homes, a 20% blend can only raise consumer prices. Raising energy bills during a cost-of-living crisis is the wrong way to develop industrial demand for hydrogen.”

Since hydrogen has a lower energy content per unit volume than natural gas, the group say that a 20% mix has only 86% of the heat output of natural gas, and that consumers will have to burn 16% more of the blended mix to create the same energy.

This means that fuel prices will rise by at least 16%, and that the savings in greenhouse gas emissions will be “nowhere near 20%”, and closer to 7%.

Without a strategic long-term vision for the hydrogen economy, the letters argues that blending could also risk locking-in hydrogen for domestic heating at the expense of other sectors.

It will not encourage strategic deployment of demand-side technologies in sectors like power generation, industrial processes, and aviation, where hydrogen could play a more cost-effective role in meeting net zero, according to the letter.

Moreover, it highlights recommendations in the report that would undermine the government’s heat pump targets, and argues against creating a loophole excluding hydrogen-ready boilers from a proposed market-based mechanism.

“Since the report itself recognises that hydrogen-ready boilers are unlikely to run fully on hydrogen for decades to come, this recommendation will enable ‘greenwashing’ for fossil fuel boilers and prolong the impacts of heating on carbon emissions and air quality,” the letter states.

“This undermines the government’s aim with the market-based mechanism in the Energy Bill. We encourage you to take these points into consideration in your review and response to the report, and when developing the UK’s future hydrogen policies.”

Image credit: Shutterstock

Subscribe

Subscribe to IEMA's newsletters to receive timely articles, expert opinions, event announcements, and much more, directly in your inbox.


Transform articles

UK’s CCUS strategy based on outdated assumptions, government warned

The UK government’s carbon capture, usage and storage (CCUS) strategy is based on optimistic techno-economic assumptions that are now outdated, Carbon Tracker has warned.

13th March 2024

Read more

The UK government’s latest Public Attitudes Tracker has found broad support for efforts to tackle climate change, although there are significant concerns that bills will rise.

13th March 2024

Read more

A consortium including IEMA and the Good Homes Alliance have drafted a letter to UK government ministers expressing disappointment with the proposed Future Homes Standard.

26th February 2024

Read more

Global corporations such as Amazon and Google purchased a record 46 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind energy last year, according to BloombergNEF (BNEF).

13th February 2024

Read more

Three-quarters of UK adults are concerned about the impact that climate change will have on their bills, according to polling commissioned by Positive Money.

13th February 2024

Read more

The reality of delivering net zero is that we need solutions tailored to specific areas. Peter Gudde explores models that local authorities could adopt

15th January 2024

Read more

Heat pump installations in UK homes increased by nearly a fifth last year, with over 200,000 now having been installed across the country.

11th January 2024

Read more

Last year was the warmest ever recorded, surpassing the previous annual high set in 2016 by a large margin, scientists have confirmed today.

9th January 2024

Read more

Media enquires

Looking for an expert to speak at an event or comment on an item in the news?

Find an expert

IEMA Cookie Notice

Clicking the ‘Accept all’ button means you are accepting analytics and third-party cookies. Our website uses necessary cookies which are required in order to make our website work. In addition to these, we use analytics and third-party cookies to optimise site functionality and give you the best possible experience. To control which cookies are set, click ‘Settings’. To learn more about cookies, how we use them on our website and how to change your cookie settings please view our cookie policy.

Manage cookie settings

Our use of cookies

You can learn more detailed information in our cookie policy.

Some cookies are essential, but non-essential cookies help us to improve the experience on our site by providing insights into how the site is being used. To maintain privacy management, this relies on cookie identifiers. Resetting or deleting your browser cookies will reset these preferences.

Essential cookies

These are cookies that are required for the operation of our website. They include, for example, cookies that enable you to log into secure areas of our website.

Analytics cookies

These cookies allow us to recognise and count the number of visitors to our website and to see how visitors move around our website when they are using it. This helps us to improve the way our website works.

Advertising cookies

These cookies allow us to tailor advertising to you based on your interests. If you do not accept these cookies, you will still see adverts, but these will be more generic.

Save and close