A cross-party group of MSPs led by Fergus Ewing is demanding Scottish ministers drop plans to make householders in rural areas replace their fossil fuel run boilers with heat pumps from 2025.

In a letter sent today Mr Ewing calls on the SNP-Green administration to urgently reconsider the proposals which he says would severely penalise homeowners living in more remote parts of the country. It has been signed by Conservative and Labour MSPs.

Patrick Harvie, a Scottish Greens minister, last month unveiled plans to overhaul the criteria used to award energy performance certificates (EPCs) to properties to take into account their method of heating. 

Under the proposals a home's EPC rating would be partly based on whether "the heating system is zero direct emissions compliant", with electric heat pumps given the highest score and gas boilers the lowest. 

The Scottish Government’s Heat in Buildings Strategy, designed to support the country’s Net Zero target, aims to phase out fossil fuel heating systems in off-grid properties from 2025.

In the letter to Mr Harvie, Mr Ewing said: "There are around 170,000 off-gas grid properties across Scotland that currently use heating oil, LPG and other solid mineral fuels; the majority of which are located in rural and island areas. 

"We understand that proposals set out in the Heat and Buildings Strategy and Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) reforms aim to transition these properties to electrified heating systems from 2025. 

"While the use of electrified systems – such as heat pumps – work well in many property types, the practical challenges associated with retrofitting older and harder to treat homes need to be taken into account."

The letter also warns of the potential consequence of leaving many homes without heating in the event of power outages caused by extreme weather. 

The calls to Mr Harvie follow a recent poll in which 80% of 1,000 off-grid property owners said the cost of installing a heat pump would be unaffordable. 

The MSPs also highlight that inefficiencies in rural electricity grids and infrastructure would likely cause unnecessary disruption throughout the transition period.

Advocating for a mixed technology approach that could include the use of renewable liquid gases, they insist that the Scottish government reconsider the plans.

Mr Ewing said: “By seeking to reform Energy Performance Certificates and forcing rural homeowners to rely on electrified heating alone from 2025, the Scottish Government is taking an approach to decarbonisation that will pose a serious risk to those living in remote areas. 

“Not only does it threaten to burden off-grid property owners with overwhelming costs, but it also leaves them vulnerable to extreme weather-induced power outages and disregards the realities of inefficient rural and islands electricity grids and infrastructure.  

“While it’s important that we all work together to meet our Net Zero ambition, it should not come at the expense of our rural communities”.

Scottish Conservative energy spokesman, Douglas Lumsden MSP, added: “These current proposals are deeply unfair on Scotland’s rural communities. 

“If we are to reach net-zero, we need to do so in a way that is fair, affordable, and which offers choice to Scottish homeowners. Given the timescales involved, ministers must urgently review these proposals.”

Scottish Labour Highlands and Islands MSP Rhoda Grant added: “The decarbonisation of household heating plays a pivotal role in our journey towards achieving our Net Zero goal. However, it is crucial that we ensure a fair and just transition for those living in rural areas, providing them with the necessary support in this process. 

“Instead, the current approach from the Scottish Government appears to penalise those living off the gas grid, despite their existing disadvantages. 

“We need policies that address the specific challenges faced by rural communities and protect them from undue burdens during this critical transition.”

The Scottish Government has previously announced that, from 2025, all homes will need to achieve an EPC rating of C or above at certain trigger points, including when the house is put on the market for sale.

A strategy published by ministers in 2021 said that the average cost of installing a heat pump is around £10,000, four times the £2,500 cost of a new fossil fuel boiler.

The document also admitted that this may cause energy bills to rise, saying: "In some cases, zero emissions systems will cost more to run than the fossil fuel systems they replace." 

The Scottish Government has estimated the cost of converting all homes to "zero emissions" as £33billion but provided an initial package of support of only £1.8 billion over the current Parliament.

It has set a target for all homes to achieve an EPC rating of C or above by 2033, with buildings currently accounting for around a fifth of Scotland's carbon emissions.

But the consultation document said the current criteria for awarding EPCs are based on the cost of heating a property and do "not align with our net zero ambitions".

Unveiling the document, Mr Harvie said that reform of EPCs was "well overdue" and was in line with recommendations from the climate change committee, which advises ministers on how to achieve emissions targets.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "All parties in Parliament backed our ambitious climate targets. To achieve them, emissions from heating our buildings need to reduce to zero by 2045 and all homes need to reach a good level of energy efficiency by 2033.

“So later this year we will consult on proposals that could inform a Heat in Buildings Bill, and the regulations that would follow. This will be done in a phased way to ensure that homeowners have a sufficient transition period and we want to hear people’s views about how we can do that.

“Many rural households have already made that transition and throughout Europe, colder countries like Norway and Finland, with large rural populations are far ahead of us.

"We already provide an extra £1500 on top of the normal heating and energy efficiency grants of £7,500 to recognise the increased costs in rural areas.

"The Heat in Buildings strategy already recognises that bespoke solutions will be required for traditional and heritage buildings.

"And – reflecting the risk of power outages during extreme weather – our regulations mandating the use of climate-friendly heating systems in new builds make an allowance for the use of direct emissions heating systems as emergency backup. 

“Separately, we are currently consulting on reforming the factors which determine a property’s EPC rating – to better recognise zero emissions heating systems and ensure the EPC rating system is supporting our transition to net zero. This consultation is open until 16 October. This consultation does not involve placing any restrictions on property sales for those with lower ratings, nor does it make any proposal to prevent any homeowner from being able to sell their home if they do not meet an EPC C level by 2025.”