Insulation schemes collapse in 2013

The only way for households to cut energy costs permanently is by improving energy efficiency, but the new figures show that the number of efficiency measures enabled by government schemes plummeted in 2013 as new policies replaced those created by the previous government, like CERT and CESP.

During the first 11 months of 2013, the number of households where cavity wall insulation was installed fell by 94 per cent. It was down from 2012's level of 640,000 to just 37,672 homes. This is only 9 per cent of the level that the Government's own impact assessment of 400,000 homes in 2013 predicted – itself dismissed at the time by Ministers as far too pessimistic.

Loft insulation fared even worse: down at 65,450 homes improved in 2013, and therefore a 96 per cent drop on 2012's figure of 1.610m. This was just 45 per cent of the level in the government’s own impact assessment prediction for 2013 of 150,000 homes

Even the numbers of solid walled homes insulated – into which government pushed over £2m in training money – had fallen to just 8,600 homes, which is just 10.5 per cent of the 2012 outturn delivered figure of 82,000 homes improved. It seems 2013 has been the worst year on record even for this nascent industry (for instance, 13,000 solid walled homes insulated back in 2010)

In total this means that under previous programmes there were 2,332,000 installations of domestic insulation measures in existing homes in 2012; but by November 30 2013 just 111,200 homes had any insulation installed – an overall market reduction of 95 per cent.

Because the month of December was blighted by the Chancellor's upheaval re ECO (cutting the main programme by 34 per cent on December 5 , together with his announced intention to alter changes  scoring rewards for each different insulation measures without providing any details), this  effectively ensured almost no new refurbishment work during December.

Consequently there were in December 2013 at least 7,000 fewer people employed in delivering insulation in existing homes than there were in 2012. Nonetheless government is still claiming there will be 30,000 more people employed in residential sector insulation in 2015 than in 2012.