The Energy Bill Revolution

The Labour Party has today announced a ‘war on cold homes’ to end the scandal of fuel poverty.  Caroline Flint, the Shadow Climate and Energy Secretary committed today at the Labour Party Conference to a far more ambitious energy efficiency programme.

She made pledges to:

• Use all of the Energy Company Obligation subsidy to make low income homes far more energy efficient, with at least 200,000 homes a year to benefit from whole house retrofits and an ambition to eliminate cold homes for all low income households within 15 years
• Half a million free energy efficiency assessments each year
• Putting Local Authorities in the driving seat of a new area based fuel poverty programme
• Bringing 3 million privately rented homes up to a high level of energy efficiency by 2027
• 0% loans for 1 million able to pay households
• Making home energy efficiency an infrastructure priority so that Labour can go ‘further and faster’ in the next Parliament

Ed Matthew, Director of the Energy Bill Revolution, said:

“With 25,000 people dying of the cold every winter, we welcome Labour’s pledge to deliver whole house retrofits for all low income households and make home energy efficiency an infrastructure priority. This is a potential breakthrough in the war against fuel poverty and cold homes. We now urge Labour to put their money where their mouth is and make a firm commitment to using the infrastructure budget to help fund it and bring all 6 million low income homes up to EPC Band C by 2025 and 2 million homes to this standard by 2020. Allocating just 2 per cent of the Government’s annual £45 billion Infrastructure Budget towards retrofitting schemes would double the investment available and allow us to make half a million low income homes highly energy efficient every year. Only then can we develop an infrastructure programme at the scale needed to end the fuel poverty crisis once and for all.”

ENDS

For more information please contact:

Ed Matthew, Director of the Energy Bill Revolution: 07827 1579zero6

Ask your MP to end the cold homes crisis

More information about the campaign is available here