Wallonia's government is postponing a ban on oil-fired boilers set out in the previous administration's Air Climate Energy Plan, PACE, regional Energy Minister Cécile Neven said on Wednesday in the Walloon parliament.
‘The ‘Stop oil boiler’ ban is one of the 295 measures in the PACE. It has not been implemented, and as long as it has not been translated into law, it does not exist," Ms. Neven pointed out, when questioned on the subject by Mouvement Reformateur (MR) legislator Olivier Maroy.
"This measure will be adapted because the dates set out in PACE are not realistic, rather than an outright ban that will have zero results on the ground," she said.
Under the Air Climate Energy Plan, the installation of heating appliances powered by oil or coal was to be banned from 1 March 2025 in new buildings. Where replacing old installations in existing buildings was concerned, the ban was to take effect no later than 1 January 2026.
In practice, both deadlines will be pushed back. "For new, well-insulated buildings, there will probably be a slight postponement," Ms. Neven said. "On the other hand, it is much more complex for existing buildings, particularly because the housing stock is not in an exceptional state of BEP [Building Energy Performance]."
‘We need to think about alternatives. Consultations with the sector are underway, and this is one of the issues that will be addressed in 2025," the energy minister concluded.
