The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched an investigation in October (2023). Now, it has secured formal commitments from Worcester Bosch to take steps to ensure it doesn’t mislead customers on the environmental benefits of its boilers.
Read more: CMA launches investigation into Worcester Bosch’s hydrogen-blend boiler marketing
The company will withdraw or change its marketing material across all channels; and contact its network of installers and third-party retailers to ask them to remove any Worcester Bosch marketing material of concern to the CMA.
Hayley Fletcher, Interim Senior Director, Consumer Protection at the CMA, claimed it’s vital that customers can make well-informed decisions, especially with people concerned about their bills.
“Around 1.6 million people buy a new boiler in the UK each year – a big decision that can cost thousands of pounds,” she said. “Our action – including the changes secured from Worcester Bosch – will help to ensure that customers looking for a new heating system are provided with clear and accurate information.”
The CMA has also taken a number of other initiatives in the green heating sector, including letters sent to 12 other boiler suppliers, which has led to “positive changes in these businesses’ marketing practices.”
This is part of the authority’s work to explore consumer protection issues in the sector, which saw the regulator in June 2023 raise “greenwashing and misleading messaging concerns” about hydrogen-capable boilers.
Read more: UK CMA raises ‘greenwashing’ concerns about hydrogen-capable boiler messaging
In May (2024), a hydrogen heating town pilot trial was shelved until after 2026. The UK Government wants to await a decision on the role of hydrogen in decarbonising heat.
Read more: Hydrogen town trial shelved until after 2026 as UK rethinks heating decarbonisation
Is there a future for hydrogen heating?
While hydrogen itself is often the focus of debate, its use as a means to heat homes has become one of the most divisive topics in the industry. Although it most certainly is not an isolated concern, the UK can be used to portray the hydrogen for heating debate on levels transcending technicality and financial.
The potential for hydrogen heating homes has been hailed as a way to easily transition the natural gas-heated housing stock to zero-emissions. The UK in particular is a region that could significantly benefit from the method, with 20.7 million or 88{c431b1036349617aea55b35aa92592c3cb3fecc7f94273a754a3b674e9a603ce} of English dwellings having a gas-fired heating system, according to the UK Government’s English Housing Survey 2020-20211.
Additionally, the need to find an alternative to natural gas-fired heating is ever increasing against the UK’s 2050 Net Zero agenda, with the heating sector accounting for almost one third of the UK’s annual carbon footprint and 17{c431b1036349617aea55b35aa92592c3cb3fecc7f94273a754a3b674e9a603ce} of heating emissions from building coming from homes2.
The idea of heating hydrogen is often painted as a simple task: change your boiler and a few appliances to hydrogen compliant alternatives and carry on as usual – and to some degree, that is correct.
Continue reading here.