‘Substantial gap’ between government targets and efficiency progress
A study for WWF UK and ScottishPower has found a substantial gap emerging between what is on course to be delivered and what is needed to reach the UK government’s desired energy reduction target of 15% by the end of the decade.
The report, carried out by Frontier Economics, shows that the government needs to significantly step up its plans to accelerate the delivery of energy efficiency measures in homes, such as better insulation or replacing fossil fuel boilers with electric heat pumps, to get on track with meeting its ambition.
Currently 6 million homes need to be better insulated by 2030 to meet targets, however, existing policies are expected to deliver around 1.1million. As well as better insulation, it is estimated that 1.5 million homes will still need heat pumps installed and a further 600,000 homes will need connection to low-carbon heat networks.
The study follows earlier research commissioned by WWF and ScottishPower that has been recently updated with Ofgem’s latest energy price cap. It finds that homes equipped with a range of low carbon technologies, including solar panels, EV chargers and the right energy efficiency measures, could currently save a typical household up to £2300 on their energy bills each year, compared to homes without.
Isabella O’Dowd, head of climate policy at WWF, said: “We know insulating homes protects consumers from high energy bills and we can’t wait until winter – summer is the time to fix the roof. With our homes accounting for 16% of the UK’s carbon emissions, the UK government must act now and tell us how it will insulate the extra 5 million homes it needs to keep us on track to meet its green ambitions and drive down bills. Insulating millions more homes is vital for the government to meet its energy efficiency target and could benefit households to the tune of hundreds of pounds every year.”
Robert McGaughey, head of smart heat at ScottishPower, said: “We were pleased when the government set a new target for reducing energy consumption from homes by 15% by the end of the decade – and this reporthighlights the scale of the task ahead.
“It shows that delivery needs speeding up and support scaling up – planned polices need to come off the drawing board and be actioned, and some new policies are needed too. Accelerating action now to achieve this target will help more households to reduce their heating bills sooner.
“In all of this, there needs to be a strong focus on delivering a whole house approach to those on low incomes, combining insulation improvements with greener heating options such as efficient heat pumps. There is no time to waste in filling the gap – and ScottishPower is ready to play its part.”
