Calor has worked hard to promote the needs of rural households for nearly a century. In particular, our partnership with National Energy Action Cymru has focused on highlighting the issues faced in fuel poor off-grid households in North Wales.
In July, we were delighted to support a series of seminars taking an in depth look at fuel poverty in conjunction with NEA Cymru’s fuel poverty forums. The seminars were free to attend and open to anyone who has an interest in the topic, providing an opportunity to share knowledge and best practice.
Discussions touched on an a variety of themes, including the complex nature of fuel poverty and the need for a just transition as the UK seeks to achieve Net Zero emissions by 2050.
The Committee on Fuel Poverty has advised that a significant proportion of off-grid homes using oil are in fuel poverty and won’t be able to afford the upfront capital investment required to change their heating systems to low carbon technologies such as heat pumps. This is a sentiment shared by ex-Chancellor Phillip Hammond, who outlined the costs of decarbonising too quickly in a leaked letter to former Prime Minister Theresa May.
The decarbonisation challenges faced by rural communities are unique and for the transition towards Net Zero to be equitable, the government should ensure that a range of technologies and solutions, including BioLPG, are available and meet the needs of rural homeowners.
Calor was the first organisation in the UK to introduce BioLPG to the rural energy market in 2018. BioLPG reduces carbon emissions by up to 80% and is chemically identical to traditional LPG, which means customers can use it without making any changes to existing appliances, equipment or infrastructure.1
Our modelling shows that over 180,000 rural off-grid homes could be heated using BioLPG by 2030 at comparable prices to today, if additional domestic sources of supply are developed. This would help the government achieve its Net Zero target whilst keeping rural energy bills low.
Andy Parker, our Head of Strategy & Corporate Affairs, celebrates our association with NEA Cymru:
“For over 80 years Calor Gas has been proud to supply energy to our customers in Wales and our long association with NEA Cymru shows our commitment to the local communities we serve where we recognise the scale of the problem of fuel poverty in rural areas. We want to examine the solutions to reduce carbon emissions for domestic homes in a way that is socially just and equitable.
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