Asked by: Afzal Khan (Labour - Manchester, Gorton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what progress his Department has made on implementing the Sustainable warmth: protecting vulnerable households in England strategy, published 11 February 2021.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is committed to reviewing the strategy regularly and delivering on its statutory fuel poverty target. Fuel poverty statistics are published annually to track progress against the target. The latest statistics were published on 28th February 2023: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/annual-fuel-poverty-statistics-report-2023.
Energy efficiency improvements are the best way to tackle fuel poverty long term. The Government is delivering improvements in low income, vulnerable and fuel poor homes through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO), Home Upgrade Grant, Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and Local Authority Delivery schemes. The Government also announced an additional £1bn for further energy efficiency improvements through the Great British Insulation Scheme.
Asked by: Bill Esterson (Labour - Sefton Central)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, with reference to the policy paper entitled Powering up Britain, published on 30 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the provision of funding for energy efficiency measures installed in buildings.
Answered by Graham Stuart
Forty seven percent of homes in England now have reached the Government’s 2035 ambition of achieving EPC C levels, up from 14% in 2010. The Government is firmly committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050.
The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this Parliament on clean heat and improving energy efficiency in buildings. A four-year, £4 billion extension of ECO with ECO4 has also been committed to accelerate efforts to improve homes to meet fuel poverty targets.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of extending the ECO4 scheme to 2028.
Answered by Graham Stuart
ECO4 is the current iteration of the Energy Company Obligation scheme which began in April 2022 and is scheduled to run until March 2026.
Last autumn, the Government announced a new national ambition to reduce the UK’s final energy consumption from buildings and industry by 15% by 2030 against 2021 levels. The Government has also announced £6 billion of additional funding for energy efficiency from 2025-2028.
The Government will implement the most suitable domestic energy efficiency policies to meet our net zero and fuel poverty commitments.
Asked by: Beth Winter (Labour - Cynon Valley)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether his Department has set a target by which all low-income homes will meet energy performance certificate band C.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In England, the Government has set a fuel poverty target to ensure that as many fuel poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum fuel poverty energy efficiency rating of Band C by 2030.
The fuel poverty energy efficiency rating contains an uplift to the energy performance certificate rating where qualifying households’ costs are reduced through the Warm Home Discount rebate.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what assessment he has made of the impact of Government policy on home insulation and retrofitting on (a) the UK’s net zero target and (b) levels of fuel poverty.
Answered by Amanda Solloway - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The Government is firmly committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050, and to upgrading as many homes as possible to achieve EPC band C by 2035 where cost-effective, practical and affordable. By 2021, 47% of homes in England had reached EPC C, up from 14% in 2010.
In England, our statutory fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuels poor households as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of a Band C by 2030. In 2022, an estimated 52.8 per cent of all low-income households were living in a property with a fuel poverty energy efficiency rating (FPEER) of band C or better.
Asked by: Caroline Lucas (Green Party - Brighton, Pavilion)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, if he will make it his policy to upgrade all fuel-poor homes, including those which are owner occupied, to EPC C by 2028, in line with the Government’s target for social housing and privately rented premises to be EPC C by 2028.
Answered by Graham Stuart
In England, the Government’s statutory fuel poverty target is to ensure that as many fuel poor households as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of a Band C by 2030. The Government is delivering against this target through multiple energy efficiency schemes including the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, the Home Upgrade Grant and the Energy Company Obligation.
There has been good progress improving the energy efficiency of households with 47% of homes in England now having reached the Government’s 2035 target of achieving EPC C levels, up from 14% in 2010.
Asked by: Rupa Huq (Labour - Ealing Central and Acton)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, what discussions he has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on investment in (a) home insulation and (b) heat pumps in order to improve energy efficiency in the context of (i) the cost-of-living crisis and (ii) achieving the UK's Net Zero targets.
Answered by Graham Stuart
The Government is investing £6.6 billion over this Parliament on clean heat and improving energy efficiency in buildings, including through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund, Home Upgrade Grant, and Boiler Upgrade Scheme. In addition, £6 billion of new Government funding will be made available from 2025 to 2028.
The new ECO+ scheme will be worth £1 billion and run from Spring 2023 – March 2026. The scheme will target a broader pool of households in the least efficient homes in lower council tax bands as well as the most vulnerable.
The Government considers improving the energy efficiency of homes to be the best long-term method of tackling fuel poverty.
Asked by: Ben Lake (Plaid Cymru - Ceredigion)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment her Department has made of the potential merits of using water-saving technologies to help reduce the number of households in fuel poverty.
Answered by Rebecca Pow - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
We are working with the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to maximise the synergies between the Government goals to reduce water demand and achieve net zero. We consulted on introducing a mandatory water efficiency label for water using products across all UK nations and assessed that such a label could save £125 million on water bills and £147 million on energy bills over 10 years. Hot water use is the second largest use of energy in a home after space heating. For example, installing a water-efficient showerhead could save a family of four about £30 on their combined energy and water bill each year.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to propose changes to the electricity levy schemes in order to address fuel poverty for people living in rural areas.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Energy Company Obligation scheme is a requirement placed on larger energy suppliers and is focussed on supporting low income and vulnerable households in receiving energy efficiency measures. An additional uplift of 35% is awarded through the scheme to rural off-gas areas in Scotland and Wales in recognition of such properties tending to have higher installation costs. The Home Upgrade Grant scheme also supports rural properties in England with similar efficiency measures.
The Energy Company Obligation Plus (ECO+) scheme will provide £1bn of support the most vulnerable and those in the least efficient homes in the lower council tax bands. This includes support to consumers in rural areas. The ECO+ Government response will be published in spring and will set out specific details of support for rural consumers.
Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to address fuel poverty.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
The Government is committed to supporting all households, especially low income and vulnerable households.
This winter, the Government is providing direct support to millions of households through the Energy Price Guarantee and the Energy Bills Support Scheme.
This is in addition to targeted support through the cost of living support packages, announced last May for 2022-23 and November for 2023-24. Both packages target vulnerable and low income households, including those on means-tested benefits, pensioners and those with a disability.
Energy efficiency remains the best way to tackle fuel poverty in the long term, with support available through the Energy Company Obligation, Home Upgrade Grant, Local Authority Delivery Scheme and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund.