Labour Party Green Paper.
The Labour Party published its green paper on energy efficiency on 10th November. The purpose of the Green Paper is to set out the nature of Labour’s plans and to provide an opportunity for interested parties to engage in the development of those proposals.
Key headlines taken from the paper are:
1. Provide half a million personalised home energy reports a year, detailing how
households could save money on their energy bills through insulation and energy
efficiency.
2. Free energy efficient improvements for 200,000 households in or at risk of fuel
poverty a year, with an ambition to upgrade all such homes and end the scandal of cold
homes within 15 years, saving the average household over £270 a year.
3. Interest free loans to cover the costs of energy efficiency improvements for up to one
million households during the next Parliament.
4. A new target to upgrade properties in the private rented sector to a minimum of an
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C by 2027. This is in addition to the 2018 EPC grade E target.
5. Energy efficiency designated as a national infrastructure priority under Labour’s
proposed National Infrastructure Commission.
6. Streamlined regulations and a long-term strategy to support investment in energy
efficiency in non-domestic buildings.
Austin Baggett, Managing Director of National Energy Services, said, “Over the past year we have been working with the shadow ministerial team on energy efficiency and explaining the importance of a high quality energy assessment. This assessment acts as the prescription as to how to treat the home to make it warmer and cheaper to run. It is encouraging that many of the ideas put forward by Labour recognise the benefit of such an approach.”
“In addition, interest free loans is a much more sustainable way of funding improvements to homes, compared to just giving away grants such as what happens under the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund. Zero interest would make a huge difference to the number of homes complying with the golden rule. However, we should also be considering some incentives to encourage the right behaviour, such as differential rates of stamp duty or council tax. People really respond to initiatives that save them some tax!”