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Buyers of new homes are likely to be shackled to high gas prices for years to come, as the government has delayed bringing into force new regulations on low-carbon housing.
Most newly built homes will come equipped with solar panels and heat pumps from March 2028, according to updated regulations for England called the “future homes standard” (FHS), but the government has relented on plans for more stringent rules under pressure from housebuilders.
A loophole in the regulations that allows for wood-burning stoves in new homes could also help to scupper plans for homes to be fully carbon-free.
Under the “future homes standard”, to be published by the government on Tuesday, homes built from 2028 will produce 75% less greenhouse gas emissions than those built according to existing 2013 standards.
Housing experts said some of the remaining 25% of emissions was likely to be accounted for by wood-burning stoves, which are highly polluting and are not carbon-neutral in the short or medium term, but which will be allowed in new homes.
Houses should be equipped with solar panels equivalent to 40% of the ground-floor area of the building, but there will be exceptions that will mean builders can get away with installing less.
The government also said “plug-in” solar panels that can be installed on balconies or outdoor space, which are commonly used in Germany but had been banned in Britain, would become available to buy in the UK within months.
The delay in bringing in the FHS, which was expected to come into force next year, is also likely to mean hundreds of thousands of new homes will be built with gas heating, despite soaring costs caused by the Iran war.
Last year, data from the MCS Foundation, a charity that certifies low-carbon installations, showed only 4,000 new-build homes were equipped with low-carbon electric heat pumps, out of about 140,000 homes.
Jan Rosenow, a professor of energy at the University of Oxford, told the Guardian: “It is outrageous that people will be buying homes that are expensively heated with gas when we have perfectly good technology – heat pumps – that can be installed instead.
“Another two years of this really should not be happening. We are in a war, and a most severe energy crisis, and it would be perfectly easy to ensure all new homes have heat pumps now.”
The future homes standard has taken more than a decade to draw up: it was supposed to be published by the last Conservative government, and was intended to replace a previous commitment by the last Labour government for a zero-carbon homes standard to come in from 2016, which was scrapped by David Cameron.
Housing experts said developers would try to get away with the minimum standards possible. Jess Ralston, head of energy at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, said:“The government is likely to have to continue to stand up to the housebuilders, who may attempt to reach new standards as cheaply as possible to maximise their profits, causing costs to homeowners later on,” she said.
Households should save about £1,000 a year on energy bills thanks to the new standards, said Garry Felgate, chief executive of the MCS Foundation.
He said: “The confirmation that virtually all new homes in England will have solar panels and low-carbon heating systems such as heat pumps is very good news – for energy security, for the UK’s progress toward a carbon-free future, and for the countless households that will benefit as a result.”
The government also refused to say whether hydrogen would be ruled out for home heating for the future, despite years of strong evidence showing that it could not be an economically viable heat source for homes. Rosenow said: “They should just rule out hydrogen for home heating, that would be the sensible thing to do.”
The housing secretary, Steve Reed, said: “Building 1.5m new homes also means building high-quality homes that are cheaper to run and warmer to live in.
“As we make the switch to clean, homegrown energy, today’s standard is what the future of housing can and should look like.
“Not only will these changes protect hard-working families from shocks abroad but will also slash hundreds of pounds off their energy bills every year.”
