Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Whitehead on 15 June (HL448), what modelling they have undertaken to estimate the number of individual retrofit measures to be financed through consumer loans under the Warm Homes Plan; and what (1) is their central estimate, and (2) were the assumptions used on loan size and repayment terms.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme has been allocated up to £300m CDEL and under the Warm Homes Fund up to £1.7bn. The Government is undertaking detailed modelling, in line with departmental appraisal and analytical standards, to inform estimates of the number of retrofit installations that may be supported.
The number and type of measures financed will depend on several factors, including consumer uptake and the technologies installed; and loan sizes and repayment terms. These elements remain under development and analysis and, therefore, the Government has not yet finalised estimates of the total number of measures to be financed, nor any breakdown by technology type or tenure.
Further information will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Whitehead on 15 June (HL448), what estimate they have made of the total number of retrofit measures expected to be financed through consumer loans under the Warm Homes Plan over its lifetime; and what is the annual breakdown of those measures by technology type and tenure, once the loan sizes and terms are set out.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme has been allocated up to £300m CDEL and under the Warm Homes Fund up to £1.7bn. The Government is undertaking detailed modelling, in line with departmental appraisal and analytical standards, to inform estimates of the number of retrofit installations that may be supported.
The number and type of measures financed will depend on several factors, including consumer uptake and the technologies installed; and loan sizes and repayment terms. These elements remain under development and analysis and, therefore, the Government has not yet finalised estimates of the total number of measures to be financed, nor any breakdown by technology type or tenure.
Further information will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Whitehead on 15 June (HL448), what estimate they have made of the total number of individual retrofit measures that will be financed through consumer loans under the Warm Homes Plan, based on their current assumptions about loan size and repayment terms.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The Warm Homes Loan Scheme has been allocated up to £300m CDEL and under the Warm Homes Fund up to £1.7bn. The Government is undertaking detailed modelling, in line with departmental appraisal and analytical standards, to inform estimates of the number of retrofit installations that may be supported.
The number and type of measures financed will depend on several factors, including consumer uptake and the technologies installed; and loan sizes and repayment terms. These elements remain under development and analysis and, therefore, the Government has not yet finalised estimates of the total number of measures to be financed, nor any breakdown by technology type or tenure.
Further information will be published in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the consultation on proposals to enable the safe and legal use of plug-in solar (plug-in microgeneration) products in the UK lasted two weeks, and what consideration they gave to a longer consultation.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The move to make plug-in solar panels available in shops within months comes as government steps up its drive for clean homegrown power to get the UK off its dependency on fossil fuel markets. Plug-in solar panels provide a new, simple alternative for those who may not have the option of rooftop solar, and could offer savings of up to £110 a year on energy bills for a typical home.
It has been rolled out successfully in other countries. To safely bring plug-in solar to the UK market within this timeframe, we launched an expedited consultation on required regulatory changes alongside running a series of in-depth and targeted meetings with a wide range of stakeholders.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many individual retrofit measures will be financed by the consumer loans offered under the Warm Homes Plan.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The number of loans, and therefore the number of retrofit measures supported, will depend on factors such as average loan size and repayment terms.
We will set out more detail on loan sizes and terms in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits of measuring heat transfer coefficients on (1) improving retrofit advice, (2) improving retrofit outcomes, (3) protecting consumers, and (4) de-risking finance offers.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The Warm Homes Plan recognised the potential role of Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings (SMETERs) in delivering warmer homes more affordably, including: helping tailor fabric and clean heat retrofit measures to homes; identifying hidden defects for remediation; and driving installation quality. We continue to explore new applications as part of ongoing policy activity.
These benefits form part of the rationale behind our recent consultation on introducing an option for recording SMETER Heat Transfer Coefficients as supplementary information alongside EPC ratings, in the ‘Home Energy Model: Energy Performance Certificates’ consultation. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the relative merits of heat transfer coefficients measured through smart meter enabled thermal efficiency ratings compared to those produced using the current Energy Performance Certificate methodology.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings (SMETERs) can provide valuable additional insight on the thermal performance of homes in practice with potential to play an important role in delivering warmer homes more affordably. Work is underway to establish a quality assurance system to support use of SMETERs from end-2026, and we are exploring further applications under the Warm Homes Plan.
In the Home Energy Model: Energy Performance Certificates consultation, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/home-energy-model-energy-performance-certificates, we sought views on an option for recording SMETER Heat Transfer Coefficients as supplementary information alongside EPC ratings. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce smart meter enabled thermal efficiency ratings as a voluntary measure within existing warm home schemes and other policies.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
Smart Meter Enabled Thermal Efficiency Ratings (SMETERs) can provide valuable additional insight on the thermal performance of homes in practice with potential to play an important role in delivering warmer homes more affordably. Work is underway to establish a quality assurance system to support use of SMETERs from end-2026, and we are exploring further applications under the Warm Homes Plan.
In the Home Energy Model: Energy Performance Certificates consultation, available at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/home-energy-model-energy-performance-certificates, we sought views on an option for recording SMETER Heat Transfer Coefficients as supplementary information alongside EPC ratings. We are reviewing responses and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the benefits for (1) retrofit spending, (2) quality assurance, and (3) energy models, of including u-values in the Reduced Data Standard Assessment Procedure, the Home Energy Model, and the Standard Assessment Procedure.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
U‑values can be measured on-site or taken from defaults. Using measured U‑values reduces reliance on assumptions and can provide a more accurate view of real building performance. For new buildings, the Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) and the Home Energy Model (HEM) require U‑values to be provided.
For existing buildings, Reduced Data SAP does not require measured values because in‑situ data is harder to obtain, though defaults can be overridden where verified evidence is available to assessors. Government is consulting on HEM for existing buildings, including exploring the optional use of additional verified, tested U‑value evidence to improve assessment accuracy.
Asked by: Lord Foster of Bath (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to reflect the true, in-situ, monitored energy performance of buildings in their future Energy Performance Certificate valuations.
Answered by Lord Whitehead
The Government is consulting on proposals for HEM for existing buildings in the HEM:EPC consultation which is open until 18 March. This includes exploring the optional use of additional verified in-situ measured evidence which can be input where available to assessors, which can improve assessment accuracy.