A strategy to end cold homes for good
Today’s new Fuel poverty strategy sets out a revolutionary approach to identifying and targeting England’s energy inefficient homes.
Future governments will now, for the first time, be required by law to tackle fuel poverty by making the coldest, leakiest homes in England more energy efficient.
This new Fuel poverty strategy – the first for over a decade – outlines challenges and actions for the next 15 years to ensure future Governments take the right steps to tackle fuel poverty and get help to those who need it most.
A new legally binding target – in force since December 2014 – is at the heart of the new strategy. It requires a minimum standard of energy efficiency (Band C) for as many fuel poor homes as reasonably practicable by 2030.
Early measures to tackle the problem of fuel poverty and hit the new target include:
- New regulations so from April 2018 private landlords cannot rent out energy inefficient properties (homes with Energy Performance ratings below ‘E’)
- Tackling the problem of fuel poverty in off gas grid properties with a new £25 million fund to help people install central heating systems for the first time
- Extending the successful ECO scheme to 2017, so that a further 500,000 properties will be made cheaper and easier to heat, building on the one million homes that ECO and the Green Deal have helped in the last 2 years
The strategy prepares the ground for future new measures with a series of pilots focused on priority areas, ranging from health aspects of fuel poverty through to specific housing types like off gas grid properties and park homes.
A £3 million pot for such pilots will see £1 million released immediately to scale up local ‘warmth-on-prescription’ projects to help primary healthcare professionals such as GPs play a much larger part in tackling fuel poverty. In the coming months up to £2 million more will be released to support innovation pilots, not just in health but also for off gas grid, park homes and community energy approaches.
Unveiling the strategy, Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Davey said:
Today marks a crucial step towards a future free from cold homes and bloated energy bills in England. We now have a legally binding commitment to plug our draughtiest houses – adding to the 1 million homes we’ve made warmer and cheaper to heat.
From tackling fuel poverty in the private rented sector to facing up properly to the challenges of rural off gas grid fuel poverty, this strategy marks a significant change from the old approach.
Yet even as we implement new regulations and new spending priorities to make homes warmer, we are planning for the next phase of cutting fuel poverty, with a series of key pilots, especially into the link between improving health and cutting fuel poverty.
Households in fuel poverty in the least energy efficient homes (Bands F and G) typically face energy costs that are £1,000 more than those in higher quality homes. To help focus support where it is needed most, the strategy introduces interim milestones to get as many as fuel poor homes as reasonably practicable up to a minimum energy efficiency rating of Band E by 2020 and Band D by 2025.
Minister for Energy and Climate Change Amber Rudd:
We want the fall in levels of fuel poverty seen under this Government to continue - so that cold homes are gone for good.
That’s the future we’re presenting, alongside our ambitious targets, so even more households can join the 1 million homes already reaping the benefits of lower energy bills and warmer homes this winter.
Last month, the government laid draft regulations to introduce minimum energy efficiency standards that will see up to 1 million people renting from private landlords benefit from warmer and cheaper to heat homes. Many of the poorest tenants will benefit and, with government support, landlords can improve their properties at no upfront cost – and landlords will only have to make improvements that are cost-effective. This will be backed by a new law to give tenants the right from April 2016 to request consent for improvements that the landlord cannot unreasonably refuse.
Nearly 2 million heating and energy efficiency measures have already been installed across the country. With ECO being extended to 2017 an extra half a million people will be able to keep warm for less, including many low-income, vulnerable households. This is on top of half a billion pounds of investment in energy efficiency schemes over three years, including the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund.
Dr Tim Ballard, Vice-Chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said:
The Royal College of GPs welcomes this new fuel poverty strategy. It marks an important turning point in acting on what we have known for some time: that cold homes contribute to the most vulnerable people being unhealthy and can even be lethal for them.
The new strategy provides a long-term framework in which the health sector has a vital role to play, in partnership with Government. The new funding for health-related pilot projects is especially needed and will help build the case for more investment to cut the cost of warmth and help reduce the burden of cold homes on the health service.
Note to editors
- The new Fuel poverty strategy
- More information on the Private Rental Sector Regulations
- Fuel poverty is calculated by modelling the fuel bills of households in England to ensure they maintain an adequate standard of warmth, based on the characteristics of the householders, the dwelling characteristics and energy prices.
- Under the Low Income High Cost (LIHC) definition a household is considered to be fuel poor where:
- They have required fuel costs that are above the national median level.
- Were they to spend that amount, they would be left with a residual income below the official poverty line.
- For more information on what grants and schemes you may be eligible for call the Energy Saving Advice Service on 0300 123 1234 (open Mon-Fri 0900-2000, Sat 1000-1400) or Home Energy Scotland on 0800 808 2282 (open Mon-Fri 0800-2000, Sat 0900-1700) or visit the Keep warm this winter web pages.