Eneco to stop selling gas boilers in 2025, aims to be energy neutral in 2035

The Eneco heat power plant in Ypenburg. Photo: Eneco
The Eneco city heating plant in Ypenburg. Photo: Eneco

Dutch energy company Eneco is to stop selling stand alone gas boilers to private households in 2025 as part of efforts to become climate neutral by 2035.

In addition, the company plans to close or refit its three large gas-fired power stations and invest more in renewable energy and city heating schemes, the company said on Tuesday.

‘We hope to be able to help our clients switch away from gas-fired central heating over the coming 15 years,’ chief executive As Tempelman said. ‘In the first instance, that could mean a hybrid boiler, which can be used on very cold days. This too will help cut gas consumption.’

Eventually, Tempelman hopes, everyone will move to a heat pump, powered by electricity.

Eneco currently has contracts with hundreds of thousands of people to service their gas boilers and will continue to do that, Tempelman said. ‘We won’t leave our clients in the cold,’ he said.

To make the transition to a gas-free society the Netherlands will need a government with an effective climate strategy, he said. This, he said, means shifting taxation away from sustainable options towards gas and fossil fuels.

The Netherlands’ climate agreement aims to reduce CO2 emissions by 49% in 2030, compared with 1990.

In 2019, the local authority shareholders who owned Eneco agreed to sell their stakes to a Japanese consortium made up of Mitsubishi Corporation and Chubu for €4.1bn.

Mitsubishi Corporation had ‘great ambitions’ in the area of energy transition, and Chubu, the 3rd largest Japanese energy company with about 10.2 million retail customer contracts, focusses on non-fossil energy.

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