In December the Committee convened an evidence session with new
minister for energy consumers , updating its
pre-election work on the challenges for the UK in insulating and
heating homes as part of the drive for lower energy bills, good
jobs and a safer country all key components of the government's
clean power 2030 plan.
The Government committed in its election manifesto to upgrade
five million homes over five years with the £6.6bn Warm Homes
Plan. This is expected to include grants and low-interest loans
to support families to invest in insulation, encourage low-carbon
heating and enable the ‘retrofitting' of home energy
improvements.
UK housing stock accounts for around 17% of national emissions
and is among the least energy efficient in Europe. The UK's
Climate Change Committee has said residential retrofits needed to
increase to a rate of 500,000 per year by 2025, and one million
per year by 2030, to meet the UK's clean energy target.
But last month minister Fahnbulleh announced new measures being
taken to protect households after checks found widespread cases
of poor-quality solid wall insulation had been installed under
previous Government schemes. 39 businesses were immediately
suspended from installing new solid wall insulation with the
installers responsible for substandard work to be forced to fix
it, and households not asked to pay. This represents a major
change to the regulatory landscape, especially for business, and
raises questions about the inadequate nature of the oversight of
the schemes.
Poorly installed insulation can cause dampness, mould growth, and
structural damage to properties, with impacts on consumer
finances and health – as well as the clear setback in achieving
what were already stretching targets.
Consumers rightly expect a Government-funded programme to be
secure and high standard - so what went so wrong in these
retrofit schemes?
Next Wednesday 12th February the Committee will hear
from a first panel of people with direct experience of insulation
failures in their homes and from some of those involved in
getting the problems fixed: we will ask who is to blame for the
issues surrounding retrofit.
The second panel will assess how best to reshape industry
regulation and ensure Government targets are now safely met.
On Wednesday 12th February from 3pm:
- Zak Ashraf
- Damian Mercer, Cavity Extraction
Ltd
- Amanda Hoyle
- Shabir Hussain, Domestic Energy
Efficiency Manager, Luton Borough Council
From approximately 4pm:
- Ian Rippin, Chief Executive, MCS.
- Simon Ayers, Chief Executive,
TrustMark.
- Andy Manning, Head of Energy System
Transformation, Citizens Advice
If you have experience of the issues we are discussing in this
evidence session please drop us a line at CommonsESNZ@Parliament.uk by
this Friday 7 February 2025.
