National Gas demands urgent approval to pipe hydrogen into homes

Households risk paying an extra £600m on energy bills unless plans are given green light

Households will be forced to pay an extra £600m a year on their energy bills unless plans to mix hydrogen into domestic gas supplies are urgently approved, ministers have been told.
National Gas, which runs the high-pressure gas transmission network, is understood to have alerted Downing Street and Claire Coutinho, the Energy Secretary, that a decision on so-called hydrogen blending is needed no later than July this year.
The company has claimed that without a decision, it will be forced to invest in costly facilities to ensure it can keep importing gas via interconnectors from Europe, where blending is expected to begin in 2025.
The new facilities will cost up to £600m a year to operate, a sum that would ultimately be borne by consumers via their bills, said Jon Butterworth, chief executive of National Gas.
He has urged ministers to grant a swift approval for blending instead, arguing that there are no concerns about safety and it will prevent the need for unnecessary costs.
Mr Butterworth said: “When we have a cold day in the UK, we need to import gas from Europe through the two interconnectors.
“So we need to make sure that we’re ready to receive that and that we’ve got all the approvals.”
The problem has come up because the European Union is poised to begin blending hydrogen into its own gas supplies as early as next summer, up to a maximum share of 2pc hydrogen.
Although hydrogen blending of up to 20pc has already been approved in the UK’s lower-pressure gas distribution networks, it is currently capped at 0.1pc in the transmission network.
That raises the prospect that supplies piped to Britain from the Continent will need to be scrubbed clean first unless a legislative change is pushed through.
National Gas argues this essentially amounts to a bureaucratic formality, because it has already tested blending of up to 20pc hydrogen at a facility in Cumbria where it has created a miniature gas network to conduct experiments.
However, a statement published by the Government in December insisted there were “further considerations” to take into account for the transmission network, such as the impact it will have on factories and other industrial users of natural gas.
“We recognise the need to provide clarity to industry on transmission-level blending, particularly given its interactions with distribution-level blending,” the document added.
“Government will therefore aim to provide an update on timings for a transmission level blending policy decision next year.”
However, with a general election looming in the second half of this year, National Gas bosses are pushing for a decision to be made before Parliament rises for its summer recess on July 23.
This is because any legislation after that point is expected to be effectively put on ice until the election’s conclusion and the next government is in place.
If Labour succeeds in winning power, as many polls suggest it is on course to do, it is not clear whether the party would push through blending in its first days, while National Gas believes it could take up to 12 months to build the backup de-blending facility.
The company is understood to have alerted Downing Street directly in meetings this week, as well as Ms Countinho, the Energy Secretary, previously.
Mr Butterworth added: “Allowing hydrogen to be blended into the gas transmission network could save British consumers up to £600m a year and deliver energy security for decades to come.
“National Gas is committed to working with the government and our regulators to unlock this important decision that will benefit households and businesses across the country.”
The Government said it was waiting for National Gas to formally submit data from its safety trials. 
A spokesman added: “We do not recognise these highly speculative figures and cannot progress with regulatory changes until we have received sufficient safety evidence.
“Hydrogen has the potential to play a key role in decarbonising homes and supporting industry cut their emissions, which is why we support the use of hydrogen blending in limited scenarios.
“Suppliers being able to meet the required safety standards will be a key factor in enabling the wider rollout of blending into the gas network.”