Tory and Lib Dem decision cost 5 million households an average of £755 and pumped millions of cars’ worth of CO2 into the atmosphere

New research released today by the Labour Party reveals the cost to millions of UK households and the environment of the Conservative and Lib Dem coalition’s decision to scrap an insulation programme, brought in by the previous Labour government.

The new analysis of House of Commons Library data shows that the Conservative-Liberal Democrat government's decision to cancel Labour's Warm Front Scheme in 2013 cost households a total of £3.7 billion on their bills and the planet an extra 14.6 million tonnes of CO2 by 2017.

Over the period, 4.9 million households lost an average of £755 each, with the annual equivalent of the emissions of 8.6 million cars extra needlessly pumped into the atmosphere.

The Labour Party released the new figures ahead of Jeremy Corbyn’s visit to the Centre for Alternative Technology in Machynlleth, Wales on Friday 16 August.

Labour has placed tackling the climate emergency with a Green Industrial Revolution at the heart of the party’s plans for government. 

The next Labour government will insulate 4 million homes, saving them £270 per year, creating good green jobs and reducing harmful CO2 emissions. 

Jeremy Corbyn has also set out radical plans for major energy infrastructure projects like the Swansea Tidal Lagoon, bringing the National Grid into public ownership and  the mass installation of solar panels on nearly 2 million homes – with low-income and social renting households prioritised.

Ahead of his visit to the Centre for Alternative Technology, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Leader of the Labour Party, said:

“The Conservative-Lib Dem decision to scrap this insulation programme has been a disaster. They cost millions of people hundreds of pounds and damaged our environment.

“The next Labour government will turn this failed approach on its head with a Green Industrial Revolution to tackle the climate emergency, create hundreds of thousands of good green jobs in every region and nation of our country and save millions of households money on their bills.

“From the mass installation of solar panels, insulating homes, building the Swansea Tidal Lagoon, expanding solar and wind energy and bringing the National Grid into public ownership, Labour’s Green Industrial Revolution will benefit working class people by cutting energy bills, creating good jobs in new, green industries and fighting the climate emergency.

“Social justice and climate justice are inseparable. Labour will tackle inequality and environmental destruction together.”

Ends

Notes to Editors

• “Coastal communities in Wales face being abandoned as rising sea levels mean the cost of maintaining defences can no longer be justified, BBC Wales can reveal … Fairbourne, in Gwynedd, is expected to enter into managed retreat from rising sea levels in 2025.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-26125479
• At the Labour Party’s UK national Conference in September 2018, Jeremy Corbyn promised to back proposals for a tidal power lagoon in Swansea Bay if Labour wins power, after plans for the lagoon had been rejected by Tory UK ministers in June that year. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-45651449
• Labour’s commitment to fit nearly 2 million homes with electricity-generating solar photovoltaic (PV) installations, targeting low income and social housing, will be delivered as part of its retrofit and Decent Homes 2 programmes.
• Labour’s support for solar contrasts with Conservative policies, which have broken the back of the UK’s solar sector. According to the Solar Trade Association, new installations of solar PV have fallen by 90% since 2016. https://www.solar-trade.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/STA-Response-to-Consultation-on-the-Feed-In-Tariffs-Scheme-final.pdf
• Labour has committed to achieving at least 60% of the UK’s electricity and heat from renewable and low carbon sources by 2030.
• Labour’s estimates of 7.1 million tonnes of CO2 saved from solar installation assumes:
• • The average installation (we have assumed a 2.5kw south facing roof in Derby) will generate 828 kwh per year http://info.cat.org.uk/solarcalculator/
  • That energy displaced from the grid has a CO2 intensity of 240gCO2/kwh http://electricityinfo.org/carbon-intensity-archive/#data
  • That the CO2 intensity of solar power is 40 gCO2/kwhhttps://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/grantham-institute/public/publications/briefing-papers/Solar-power-for-CO2-mitigation---Grantham-BP-11.pdf
• For the 4 million cars. We assume:
• • The average car travels 7800 miles a year - Q.24 https://www.racfoundation.org/motoring-faqs/mobility#a24
  • The average car emits 149.6 gCO2/km Q5 - https://www.racfoundation.org/motoring-faqs/environment#a5
• Investment in renewable energy to tackle climate change as a national infrastructure priority. All funding for the programme will be classified as capital expenditure, paid out of Labour’s National Transformation Fund. Over five years, the investment required to fit 1 million social and low income homes is estimated to be £2.14 billion. The investment in loans, grants and regulatory changes to help 750,000 further households fit solar panels will cost an estimated £350 million over fifteen years.
• Labour’s calculations assume an average installation of a 2.5KW solar PV system on a south facing roof in Derby, and that on average 30% of electricity produced is consumed directly (http://info.cat.org.uk/solarcalculator/), replacing energy purchased from the grid at £0.16/kwh. For those at home all day, it is estimated that up to 69% of electricity produced is consumed directly (https://bit.ly/2lkFRom).
• To calculate the value of exported electricity to Local Authorities, Labour’s calculations assume the current Export Tariff rate of £0.0524 p/kwh on 50% of generated electricity, on 2.5GW of installed solar PV capacity, over a 15 year period. 
• Labour has also pledged to bring the grid back into public ownership and replace existing private monopolies with publicly owned and locally run institutions.
• Full details of plans set out in “Bringing Energy Home” http://www.labour.org.uk/bringing-energy-home
• • Labour will transform the grid by giving new public agencies the power and direct responsibility to deliver Labour’s ambitious climate change targets and to tackle fuel poverty.
  • The National Energy Agency (NEA) will own and maintain transmission infrastructure, replacing the National Grid. The NEA will ensure access to electricity and heat as a human right and set and oversee targets for decarbonisation to meet Labour’s target of 60% renewable energy by 2030 and net zero carbon before 2050.
  • Fourteen Regional Energy Agencies (REAs) will replace the existing Distribution Network Operators. REAs will hold statutory responsibility for decarbonising electricity and heat; hold statutory responsibility for ensuring every household can access affordable energy, and to reduce fuel poverty; take responsibility for rolling out the UK’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure; and create local jobs.
  • Where local authorities want to accelerate the energy transition, they will be able to set up Municipal Energy Agencies (MEAs), and take over responsibility for ownership and operation of distribution networks from the REAs. MEAs will then own and operate distribution networks, enabling them to integrate networks with local generation and supply.
  • In addition to the public institutions described above, Labour will support the establishment of Local Energy Communities (LECs) to develop small scale energy generation and engage with distribution at the micro level (e.g. a housing estate, street or small village). LECs will be wholly community owned and non-profit making.
• In the last five years alone, the companies that own the UK’s energy based on networks have paid out over £13 billion in dividends to shareholders based on a review of company accounts of network owners from 2014 to 2018.
• Network companies have been repeatedly criticised for prioritising dividend extraction over investment into infrastructure upgrades. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cost-of-energy-independent-review
• The amounts being invested by DNOs to modernise the UK power system and support the energy transition have been described as ‘pitiful’. https://eciu.net/press-releases/2017/electricity-network-firms-profits-add-10bn-to-bills

*2017 figures average of other 9 years from 2009 to 2018. Actual figure for 2017 was 8.1 billion - but this was due largely to sale of company, and unclear from reports what proportion due to normal dividend payout

• Companies have also made billions of pounds of unjustified profits https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/about-us/policy/policy-research-topics/energy-policy-research-and-consultation-responses/energy-policy-research/energy-consumers-missing-billions/
• Network costs represent over one quarter of the cost of a gas and electricity bill https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/publications-and-updates/infographic-bills-prices-and-profits
• These two policies are part of Labour’s plans to usher in a Green Industrial Revolution in housing, transport and industry - creating 400k jobs and tackling climate change including policies such as:
• • Supporting the development of tidal lagoons and offshore wind industry
  • Introducing a new Clean Air Act.
  • Expanding the provision of public transport and cycling lanes.
  • Initiating a large tree planting programme, working with farmers and foresters to promote biodiversity and better flood prevention.
• Labour took figures provided by the Commons Library for the annual installation rate of loft insulation and cavity wall insulation from 2008 - 2012, when Labour's Warm Front Scheme was in effect, and figures for 2013 - 2017, when the Coalition and Tory Governments replaced the Warm Front Scheme with the failed Green Deal and Energy Companies Obligation. On average, there were 1.2 million loft insulations per year from 2008 - 2012, and only 214,000 loft insulations per year from 2013 - 2017. There were 700,000 cavity wall installations per year from 2008 - 2012, and only 142,000 from 2013 -2017. Using households financial and carbon savings for loft insulations and cavity wall insulations provided by the Energy Saving Trust, Labour calculate that an additional £3.7 billion and 14.6 million tonnes of carbon dioxide would have been saved by households between 2013 and 2017 had the installation rate continued at the average pace from 2008 - 2012.