A new report claims that inefficient and unambitious Government programmes have resulted in an 80% decrease in the number of measures delivered to fuel poor households.
The research by the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), commissioned by the Energy Bill Revolution, found that the number of installations that make the biggest impact on energy bills – cavity wall insulation, loft insulation, solid wall insulation and efficient replacement boilers – has dropped from 112,000 in the winter of 2011/12 to an estimated 22,000 for the current winter period.
Comparing the same two periods, the number of these measures targeted at low income and vulnerable households also declined from 360,000 to 85,000 – a fall of 76%. This shows that in neither period was the Government able to deliver the number of measures it intended, and also suggests that these expectations have dropped considerably in recent years.
Left out in the cold claims that the Government’s Green Deal and Energy Company Obligation (ECO) schemes have ?resulted in a significant loss of momentum in the deployment of energy efficiency measures compared to previous programmes’. This has led to a severe drop in the level of aid available to those in fuel poverty, with recent changes to ECO ?exacerbating this loss of momentum’.
The report adds that at current rates, less than 30% of six million poorly insulated low income homes will receive energy efficiency support in the next decade.
Ed Matthew of the Energy Bill Revolution said:
“The Government’s energy efficiency policies have been an unmitigated disaster. It is a complete disgrace that we are one of the richest countries in the world yet thousands continue to die of the cold because they can’t afford to keep their homes warm.
“If we are to end this needless suffering, we must make the homes of the fuel poor super energy efficient and roll out a national programme street by street through every constituency in the land. The programme, supported by infrastructure funds, would save UK households billions, slash gas imports and create over one hundred thousand jobs”.
This call to action follows the publication of a letter written by chief executives of almost 100 businesses, charities and unions to the leaders of the three main parties demanding they put energy efficient homes at the top of their agenda. The letter, which appeared in The Sunday Telegraph, calls for politicians to back a national scheme to make all low income homes super-energy efficient by 2025, with two million treated by 2020.
To read Left out in the cold: The reduction in energy efficiency support for UK households in full, click here
