Funding fall for energy-efficient homes

A new report from e3g has claimed that public investment in warm homes in England has been cut by 58 per cent since 2012.

The think tank, which is urging the government to make warm homes a national infrastructure priority, suggests that Scotland currently spends four times as much per citizen as England on energy efficiency, with England having the second worst record on cold weather-related deaths out of 30 European countries.

Following the closure of taxpayer-funded energy efficiency programmes in England, the government has halved the UK-wide obligation on energy suppliers to deliver energy efficiency improvements as part of a reported attempt to bring down energy bills.

The think tank’s Pedro Guertler said: “This is now widely considered by experts as a massive mistake. The saving on energy bills from David Cameron's cuts were soon cancelled out by energy price increases, while the energy efficiency programme was cut back to the bone. Today's average annual household energy bill is £500 lower as a result of the UK's energy efficiency programmes since 2004. What the Cameron government regarded as 'green crap' is now increasingly seen as 'green gold’.

"Making our buildings energy-efficient is the most cost-effective means of decarbonising our energy infrastructure - it protects from the health risks of cold homes and keeps our energy bills down. The priority for our infrastructure programme should be to make our homes warm whilst slashing energy demand and bills."