Labour is being accused of trying to force heat pumps on Britons amid fury at the Government for quietly reintroducing the boiler tax.
Ed Miliband, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, today unveiled latest measures in his Warm Homes Plan for installing new heating tech and insulating more homes.
His department announced measures to make it easier for households to get a heat pump by pouring an extra £30million into a grants scheme that gives households £7,500 off costs.
The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) also revealed plans to allow more households to install air source heat pumps without needing to submit planning applications.
But the Tories hit out at the Government for using the announcement of the fresh measures to sneak out confirmation it is introducing a new Clean Heat Market Mechanism from April.
This will require 6 per cent of sales by boiler manufacturers to be heat pumps, or for them to pay a charge for each missed installation.
Manufacturers have previously pushed back against what they have dubbed the boiler tax.
Many firms - including Worcester Bosch and Vaillant - have already pushed up the price of their boilers by around £100 in a bid to offset the cost of possible fines.
Ed Miliband, Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, today unveiled latest measures in his Warm Homes Plan for installing new heating tech and insulating more homes
Manufacturers have pushed back against what they have dubbed the boiler tax. It will require 6% of their sales to be heat pumps, or for them to pay a charge for each missed installation
The Government will also change planning rules that require heat pumps to be at least one metre from the property boundary
The previous Tory government had delayed the implementation of the boiler tax by a year from this April, amid the anger from manufacturers.
Under Labours new version of the scheme, the charge for each missed installation will be reduced from £3,000 to £500 for the first year.
But the Government said it will keep this under review and suggested there will be a consultation on the level of charge for subsequent years.
Claire Coutinho, the Tory shadow energy secretary, said: Today Labour have quietly introduced a new tax on boiler companies that dont sell enough heat pumps.
It gives Ed Miliband open-ended powers to force heat pumps on people by making the price of gas boilers unaffordable. We will not support it.
The climate change lobby have been itching to get this on the statute book for years because it uses higher costs to force people to buy heat pumps.
Once law, green activists will use the courts and our legally binding carbon targets, which Keir Starmer has just increased, to force steeper fines in the years ahead - causing real hardship.
As Secretary of State I scrapped this policy earlier this year because free markets are a better way to make sure cheaper products and better tech improve lives.
We need to put living standards first. There is no point in being world leading if the public is poorer - no one else will want to follow our lead.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, Labours minister for energy consumers, said: The idea at the heart of our Warm Homes Plan is a simple one - all families deserve the security of a home they can afford to heat.
But for too long, that has been out of reach for far too many people who have been left with draughty homes and sky-high bills.
That is why we are taking immediate action today to make cleaner heating available to more households.
The Government said heat pumps used effectively with a smart time of use electricity tariff could save around £100 a year compared to a gas boiler, while better insulation could cut bills by around £200 a year.
DESNZ said it was putting £1 billion into making homes warmer, more efficient and cheaper to heat in the coming financial year.
This includes funds for insulating and upgrading social housing and other homes and £295 million for the boiler upgrade scheme which provides grants for heat pumps.
Along with investment from social housing providers and energy supplier obligations, paid for by bills, there will be around £3.2billion in funding for warmer homes in 2025/26 - helping around 300,000 households, officials said.
The Government will also change planning rules that require heat pumps to be at least one metre from the property boundary.