Rural communities’ energy challenges ‘overlooked’ by Executive

● 82% of rural voters in Northern Ireland feel that rural communities have not been given enough support to decarbonise their home heating systems

● 62% of voters in Northern Ireland are supportive of a policy that allows them to keep their existing heating system and radiators and simply change to a renewable ready gas boiler

New research carried out on behalf of Liquid Gas UK has revealed that rural consumers in Northern Ireland feel the Executive could be doing more to meet their energy needs. The research found that 80% of rural consumers surveyed believed that the Executive has overlooked the unique energy challenges faced by rural communities. Similarly, 82% said that not enough support has been given to rural homeowners to decarbonise their heating systems.

In Northern Ireland 76% of households are not connected to the main gas grid with 63% of households using heating oil as their main source of heating, 10% using solid fuels - such as coal, and 6% using wood.

Research shows that for the average householder not connected to the gas grid to replace their current heating system with an electric alternative, along with the required energy efficiency works, can cost c. £19,000.

There is a clear appetite amongst rural communities for alternative ways to heat their homes and businesses in the future, with the polling finding that over 62% would be supportive of a policy that allows them to use their existing heating systems and simply change to a renewable ready boiler, that runs on renewable fuel, such as bioLPG.

George Webb, Chief Executive of Liquid Gas UK, said: “Rural communities face a number of different challenges to their urban counterparts, from transport to energy, and clearly many rural voters feel like these challenges have overlooked in recent years.

Heating accounts for 22% of carbon emissions in Northern Ireland, and decarbonising the way we all heat our homes will play a significant role in Northern Ireland meeting its Net Zero targets. We need a mosaic of different technologies to ensure solutions are the right ones for different localities and take into account specific local challenges”.