Labour’s Warm Homes Plan would cut energy bills by £500 for millions of families

New analysis by the Labour Party reveals how many homes would benefit from the rollout of a national Warm Homes Plan - a plan that would end the Conservatives’ failure to upgrade homes and cut energy bills by £500 per household.

Analysis by Labour today breaks down the number of homes per local authority area in the UK that are below EPC Band C and would therefore be in line for an upgrade. For example, an estimated 21,000 homes in Stevenage saving over £10 million off bills; 28,000 in Great Yarmouth saving £14 million; and 60,000 in Oldham, saving £30 million. 

In September 2021, Labour Leader Keir Starmer called for an urgent “national mission” to upgrade every one of the 19 million homes that need it across the country over the next decade through Labour’s Warm Homes Plan. Labour’s plan would save families at least £500 off their energy bills according to current figures. 

If the Government had implemented this scheme when Labour originally called for it, 2 million of the coldest homes could have been upgraded in the first year, saving households over £1 billion on their energy bills this year alone.

Labour’s scheme would be led by local councils across the UK, building on the success of Labour councils such as Kirklees Council and mayoralties in London and Manchester to deliver locally-led homes upgrade schemes that are providing warmer homes for local people.

At the last election, the Conservatives promised to fund homes upgrades with £9.2bn in the next Parliament. However, analysis has revealed that the Government’s spending plans fall significantly short of this target by 2025.

This comes after a decade of failure 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.

Ed Miliband MP, Labour’s Shadow Climate Change and Net Zero Secretary said:

“One of the reasons that energy bills are so high is the Conservative’ disastrous record on heating our homes. Energy efficiency rates are now twenty times lower than under the last Labour Government, but Rishi Sunak is breaking his manifesto promises, rather than upgrading homes.

“Labour’s Warm Homes Plan would upgrade the 19 million homes that need it, cutting bills and creating thousands of good jobs for electricians, engineers, and construction workers across the country. 

“A vote for Labour on 4th May is a vote to Build a Better Britain for working people.”

Ends

Notes

Conservative failure on upgrading homes:

• Of the 29 million existing homes across the UK, at least 19 million still need to be made low carbon, low-energy and resilient to a changing climate. The Committee on Climate Change has said that the building stock needs to be completely decarbonised by 2050, and that to achieve this we need all buildings at EPC C over the next 10 to 15 years. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Sector-summary-Buildings.pdf
• The UK has the least energy efficient housing stock in Europe. https://green-alliance.org.uk/reinventing_retrofit.php
• The Government’s various programmes for energy efficiency, which task private suppliers with delivering energy saving measures, have consistently failed, with domestic energy efficiency measures having fallen 95% since 2012. https://www.theccc.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/CCC-2018-Progress-Report-to-Parliament.pdf
• Under the Conservatives, home insulation rates have plummeted. In 2013 the Coalition cut energy efficiency programmes, after which insulation rates fell by 92% in 2013.
• The Resolution Foundation estimates that 9 million households are paying an extra £170 per year on energy bills as a result of these failures.
• Ahead of the Spring Budget 2023, climate and energy think tank E3G published analysis which revealed that the Conservatives have not spent a third (£2.1bn) of the funding pledged for this Parliament to make buildings energy efficient and decarbonise heat. The 2019 Manifesto pledged a total of £9.2bn to 2030, of which £6.6bn was due between 2020-25.  

Labour’s plan:

• Labour's Warm Homes Plan would upgrade the energy efficiency of up to 2 million homes a year - upgrading all of the 19 million homes that need it and helping families to save up to £500 off their annual energy bills.
• As part of Labour's Green Prosperity Plan, the Warm Homes Plan would invest up to £6bn every year for ten years to give families the grants and loans they need to upgrade the energy efficiency of their homes, cutting energy bills and cutting emissions. 
• Labour’s national plan to upgrade 19 million homes would:
• • Save households up to £500 a year based on current energy prices. E.ON estimate that upgrading a home from EPC D to EPC C could save households up to £500 a year. New estimates from IPPR find the same figure.
  • Cut national gas imports by up to 15%
  • Support over 206,000 new full-time equivalent jobs in retrofitting industries created across all regions in the first year. Taken together the direct and indirect employment impacts are therefore estimated to sustain an average of 515,000 new jobs over 4 years 

Methodology

• Number of households below EPC Band C calculated from combining ONS statistics on number of dwellings per local authority at EPC Band C or above with DLUHC data on number of dwellings per English Local Authority Area.
• Figures in DLUHC Table 100 Dwelling stock: Number of Dwellings by Tenure and district: England; 2020

o   https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-dwelling-stock-including-vacants 

• ONS Statistics on the percentage of dwellings with EPC Band 'C' or above by local authority, England and Wales (2021)

o   https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/articles/energyefficiencyofhousinginenglandandwales/2021