The Cut: Has the government betrayed households?

• The heat pump rollout might be about to hit a big barrier, with more than £700mn in future funding being lost
• VAT on clean tech is making a comeback from 1st April
• Households can no longer rely on the government to support them and should act now

The Budget last week had good news and bad news, the latter being, if you believe some experts, that the government is now likely to miss its targets for clean technology thanks to the decisions to reverse spending increases for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme.

In the immediate aftermath of Chancellor John Healey’s speech, we posted that the Boiler Upgrade Scheme was not being touched. This is correct, but unfortunately that means the investment will not be increased.

An estimated £741mn, according to reports from The Guardian, that was supposed to go to the Boiler Upgrade Scheme has gone, or at least it’s now being shifted over to defence.

The Boiler Upgrade Scheme will now only rise with inflation. The likely outcome from this will be a big slowdown in the roll out of heat pumps, which will keep households stuck on gas and at the mercy of gigantic price shocks.

Ed Matthew, director of thinktank E3G described the plans to halt future spending on the Boiler Upgrade Scheme as “disappointing”, saying that the UK was “behind a lot of other countries in rolling out heat pumps” and needs “a sea change in take-up to change that”.

On top of cutbacks to future Boiler Upgrade Scheme spending, there was also a £1bn slice taken out of the Warm Homes Plan and less for hydrogen for projects.

Perhaps worst of all, VAT is making a horrible and unwelcome comeback form 1st April. John Healey refused to extend the period for which heat pumps, solar panels, and batteries are VAT free, meaning that they will now be 5% more expensive in just a few short months.

All of this means less access to clean energy for billpayers. We think it’s fair to therefore ask the question: has the government betrayed households?

Ultimately, we say that the government has made a huge mistake in distinguishing between energy security and national security. They are, in effect, the same thing.

In October 2026, when we first started reporting on the rumours of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme being slashed, Bean Beanland told us that energy security and national security are “inextricably linked” and that “energy independence is, in itself, a defence strategy”.

That means reducing reliance on imported oil and gas. If we didn’t rely on importing so much of our energy, we’d be safer and more secure, and geopolitical crises such as Trump and Putin’s wars would hurt us much less.

Lessons from the US

Speaking of Donald Trump, he’s suffered a huge loss this week in the US midterms, losing control of both houses of Congress. This is almost entirely because of the war he decided to start with Iran earlier this year, which has caused catastrophic booms in the price of wholesale gas, the knock-on effect being an energy and food cost crisis.

He as set about trying to take the US clean energy industry apart while prioritising the military, on top of making huge foreign policy blunders. There’s a lesson there for policymakers here and elsewhere.

To answer the question of whether or not the government has betrayed households, the answer is very close to being yes. They are making it harder to get heat pumps, solar panels, and batteries, all in the name of looking tough on defence, while failing to grasp that the first line of national security is clean energy.

What can households do? Act now and get your heat pump before the VAT slap comes in. Adam Dare, managing director, Eco Renewables, is urging households to get on the case before the end of the year.

“Getting a heat pump in takes time,” he told us. “Between the heat loss survey, the system design, the grant application and the fitting itself, a job can run to several weeks from first visit to switch-on.

“Anyone who wants theirs fitted before the April change should book a survey this winter, while installers still have room in the diary.”

Written By

Maximilian Schwerdtfeger Deputy editor

Max joined The Eco Experts as content manager in February 2024 and became deputy editor in 2025. He has written about sustainability issues across numerous industries, including maritime, supply chain, finance, mining, and retail. He has also written extensively for consumer titles like City AM, The Morning Star, and The Daily Express.

He has represented The Eco Experts on national television several times, including the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live and ITV Tonight .

In 2020, he covered in detail the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) legislation on sulphur emissions and its effects on the global container shipping market as online editor of Port Technology International.

He also explored the initiatives major container ports and terminals have launched in order to ship vital goods across the world without polluting the environment.

Since then, he has reported heavily on the impact made by environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices on the supply chain of minerals, with a particular focus on rare earth mining in Africa.

As part of this, in 2022 Max visited mines and ports in Angola to hone in on the challenges being faced by one of the world’s biggest producers of rare earth minerals.

His most recent sustainability-related work came much closer to home, as he investigated the eco-challenges faced by independent retailers in the UK, specifically looking at how they can cut emissions and continue to thrive.

Max lives in South London and is an avid reader of books on modern history. He has also recently learned to play the game Mahjong and takes every opportunity to do so. He is also yet to find a sport he doesn’t enjoy watching.

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