23 February 2026
Think again Ed! Ed Miliband, Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero at the Barnsley Clean Energy Jobs Fair, 12 February 2026. Photo Shaun Curry / DESNZ via Flickr (CC BY 4.0).
Landlords could be forced to install either a heat pump or solar panels under Ed Miliband’s Warm Homes Plan. This will introduce a new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) regime, which is being criticised on several counts.
Propertymark’s Tim Thomas pointed out, “Under the reformed EPC framework, many landlords will effectively be forced to install specific technologies, such as heat pumps or solar panels, in order to meet an EPC level C rating.
Not straightforward
“For a large proportion of the existing housing stock – particularly older, rural, or hard-to-treat properties – this is neither straightforward nor affordable.”
An EPC level C rating indicates a fairly efficient building. The four proposed new metrics used to assess a property will be: fabric performance; smart readiness, heating system and energy cost.
But the proposed rules for the heating system metric would prevent any property heated with fossil fuels – such as a gas boiler – from getting that rating.
‘The policy will leave many households substantially colder.’
The GMB union has argued from the outset that the policy is unrealistic. It will leave many households substantially colder, either through the high cost of electricity or because air-source heat pumps are just not as efficient in the British climate as their enthusiasts claim.
Last November, GMB welcomed the reversal of the previous government’s outright ban on gas boilers. But the result is likely to be the same unless Miliband is forced to change tack.
Quota bills
Boiler firms are set to be hit with a £30 million bill for failing to meet strict net zero quotas. These costs will most likely be passed on to consumers.
In his first year in office, Miliband spent nearly £700 million public money on grants to support the installation of heat pumps. The scheme brought the cost of installing a heat pump down from £13,000 to “only” £6,000 – twice the cost of installing a boiler. And in many properties, the cost will be higher. These are the real costs of “going green”.
Below targets
Even the renewable energy industry admits that uptake of heat pumps is a long way below government targets. Yet they are lower than those of its predecessor, which the National Audit Office said were based on “optimistic assumptions”.
There’s little sign that the present government, tied to net zero dogma, is taking a more realistic approach.