Labour warns that home insulations have more than halved this year, as energy bills soar to record levels
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As families struggle with the soaring cost of living, and face
a terrifying rise in the energy price cap to £3,549, new
statistics have revealed that home insulation rates have plummeted
to their lowest level since 2018. That drop comes at the
worst possible time with households across the UK facing a winter
marked by soaring bills. Installations have more than halved
in 2022 compared to the first half of 2021, meaning 135,000
households have missed out on...Request free trial
As families struggle with the soaring cost of living, and face a terrifying rise in the energy price cap to £3,549, new statistics have revealed that home insulation rates have plummeted to their lowest level since 2018. That drop comes at the worst possible time with households across the UK facing a winter marked by soaring bills. Installations have more than halved in 2022 compared to the first half of 2021, meaning 135,000 households have missed out on lower bills this winter due to failed management of home insulation schemes by the Government. Labour has long warned that the Government has failed to ramp up home insulations to the necessary levels to bring down bills, secure our energy independence and lower carbon emissions. But with home insulation rates falling to the lowest level in four years, while the energy price cap rises to a record £3,549 for this winter, the extent of this failure is clearer than ever. Home insulations dropped by 62% in the second quarter of 2022, compared to the first quarter, with only 35,000 installations recorded - the lowest level since 2018 - as the Government’s poor management of the transition between Energy Company Obligation (ECO) schemes disrupts installations at the worst possible time. [1]
Back in September 2021, Labour Leader Sir Keir Starmer called for an urgent “national mission” to upgrade every one of the 19 million UK homes that need it over the next decade through Labour’s Warm Homes Plan to save households £1,000 off their annual energy bills. [2] This would be achieved through a national £60 billion fund so that every home that is currently rated below EPC Band C would be eligible for support from Government to help them make their homes better insulated, delivered through a combination of grants and loans to ensure no household is left behind. Analysis has revealed that the difference in average annual energy bills between a house which has proper energy efficiency protections and a house that is badly insulated will be £1,036. [3] If the Government had implemented Labour’s scheme when it was originally called for in September 2021, 2 million of the coldest homes could have been upgraded by this winter– saving households over £2 billion on their energy bills this year alone. This is just the latest in a string of decade-long failures by the Conservatives to introduce a proper national energy efficiency plan. The UK has the least energy efficient housing in Europe, and under the Conservatives, home insulation rates have plummeted. For example, in 2013 the Coalition cut energy efficiency programmes, after which insulation rates fell by 92% in 2013. [4] Kerry McCarthy, Labour’s Shadow Minister for Climate Change, said:
“The energy price cap has just soared to record levels and people
are terrified of what that means for their bills this winter. The Government should have been working round the clock to insulate homes and ensure as many households as possible benefit from lower bills. Its failure to do so despite repeated warnings risks leaving millions out in the cold. There is still time for the Government to adopt Labour’s plan to freeze energy bills and protect millions of families this winter. Failing to act would be unforgivable.” ENDS Notes to editors Conservative failure:
Labour’s plan:
Footnotes:
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