THE HEAD of the UK's gas networks has urged the government not to scrap the country's pipelines in favour of fullscale electrification of the grid, warning it risks jeopardising the viability of businesses and meeting demand to heat people's homes.

Jon Butterworth, chief executive of National Gas, told City A.M. he was "concerned" by proposals from the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC) to scrap support for hydrogen boilers and back electrification.

In its latest annual report, released today, NIC called for the government to prioritise heat pumps and electrification over hydrogen boilers and gas to meet the UK's climate goals and drive down energy bills.

While Butterworth said he was "delighted" with the NIC's push for carbon capture and hydrogen usage for heavy industry, he believed electrification would not be viable for smaller enterprises and homes.

National Gas supplies power to major industry, power stations and distribution networks, with half a million businesses dependent on existing gas infrastructure.

"All of these are businesses intricately on the distribution network, and if you were to decommission the gas system, you can't electrify these businesses because you need such high thermal energy. It doesn't really answer: what are they to do?" he said.

Butterworth also highlighted 23m homes dependent on gas - roughly 85 per cent of the country's housing stock - with "no answer" for hard-to-heat homes in the report.

GMB, one of the UK's largest unions, also slammed the proposals as a future option for heating homes. GMB national secretary Andy Prendergast argued that "ripping out the gas network for 25m homes is expensive stupidity."

He described the recommendation as "utterly farcical," and feared ignoring green hydrogen would scupper the country's energy independence goals and risk tens of thousands of jobs in the gas industry.

However, the NIC has determined that electrification is the "only viable option" for decarbonising buildings at scale.

A government spokesperson said that "delivering high quality infrastructure is the foundation of our future growth" and said it had commited "billions to decarbonise buildings" in the UK.

(c) 2023 City A.M., source Newspaper