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Families who install eco-friendly heat pumps could be in line for a government-funded discount on their electricity bills.

Ministers are reportedly considering stripping "green levies" from electricity bills in a bid to boost the appeal of heat pumps, which run on electricity and are central to Britain's drive to cut carbon emissions.

The plan - dubbed a "Clean Heat" discount - is under discussion ahead of next week's government spending review, with insiders suggesting it could offset expected cuts to subsidies for installing the pumps, reports the Financial Times.

At present, households pay green levies on electricity bills to help fund renewable energy projects such as wind and solar farms. These charges are part of the reason why electricity is four times more expensive than gas - despite the former being cleaner and increasingly sourced from renewables.

The Government wants to persuade more homeowners to swap out traditional gas boilers - which account for more than 15% of the UK's greenhouse gas emissions - for heat pumps. However, uptake has been sluggish, with just 60,000 installations last year compared to a target of 600,000 per year by 2028.

Nothing has been confirmed and the government has tried to distance itself from the reports. Yet Adam Berman, policy director at industry trade body Energy UK, questioned the idea of offering bill discounts for those who can afford to install a heat pump and the associated home insulation improvements.

He said: "Rebalancing these costs is crucial to driving the decarbonisation of homes. But there is widespread concern in industry about a clean heat tariff solution which raises fundamental questions of fairness and longevity."

Campaigners fear any Clean Heat discount could be a short-term fix that fails to give families the long-term certainty they need before investing thousands in greener home technology.

Ben Westerman, director of policy and advocacy at the group Electrify Britain, told the : "This risks only benefiting households who can already afford heat pumps. These benefits should be accessible to everyone."

Some in the industry argue it would be fairer to scrap levies on electricity bills altogether - or even transfer them to gas bills - to encourage the switch to cleaner energy without penalising less affluent families.

Campaigners have long called for such a shift, or for the levies to be funded through general taxation. But ministers are wary of stoking public anger by pushing up gas bills during a cost-of-living crisis.

Estimates suggest a Clean Heat discount could cost the Treasury tens to hundreds of millions of pounds each year - a decision that would need to be signed off as part of the spending review.

A spokesman for the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero said: "This is speculation.

"We are exploring a range of options for rebalancing gas and electricity prices - with securing better outcomes for consumers at the heart of our approach, and will set out further details in due course."