The Energy Bill Revolution

The Energy Bill Revolution welcomes the recognition by Which?  in their new report published today that the Government’s energy efficiency programme has been an unmitigated failure…

and that there has been a huge crash in the installation of energy efficiency measures in recent years. We support their conclusion that an area based approach is needed, in partnership with local authorities, to insulate homes of the fuel poor street by street. We also agree that a cross departmental approach could encourage recognition of the benefits energy efficiency has for health, the cost of living, bill payers, climate, energy security, industry and jobs.

But we fundamentally disagree with their assumption that more public funding for energy efficiency cannot be expected. Detailed economic modelling by Cambridge Econometrics has shown that investing infrastructure funds in home energy efficiency not only creates as much growth as other infrastructure investment but would pay back within 7 years and then start to make money for the Treasury. It would also enhance energy security, create over 100,000 jobs and generate far greater energy bill savings for consumers. The Government plans to spend £100 Billion of public money on infrastructure over the next 5 years. We only need £3 billion of that pot of money to add to add to other existing revenue streams to create a world class energy efficiency programme for the fuel poor. No other infrastructure investment could do so much more so many.

The report is availible here