NIA responds to Governments planned 400,000 new homes

The NIA shares its surprise and concerns with the Committee on Climate Change at reports that the Government intends to build 400,000 new homes in the next few years that may have to be retro-fitted with insulation and other energy saving measures to meet the UKs carbon saving targets.

Neil Marshall, Chief Executive of the NIA commented: “If this proposal goes ahead and new homes are not adequately insulated when built it will mean that these homes will be less energy efficient resulting in the occupants facing much higher energy bills which is a major concern given continued rising energy prices and unnecessary additional costs from retrofitting later.

Earlier this year government scrapped building standards that would have made new houses zero-carbon from next year, without indicating whether new standards would be forthcoming. In addition it would be a further blow for the home energy efficiency sector where installation rates for existing homes have plummeted as a result of cuts to ECO and the  Green Deal and Green Deal Hone Improvement fund being ended abruptly without putting in place alternatives.

Yesterday the Chancellor also announced further major funding cuts for the future Energy Company Obligation meaning there could be a 78% reduction in the number of households that will receive energy efficiency improvements over the next 5 years compared to the previous Parliament.  We would therefore urge a rethink in the energy efficiency policy for new homes"

The Committee on Climate Change published it Fifth Carbon Budget today highlighting that if the UK is to meet its targets by the 2030s, insulation would need to be installed in nearly all UK homes where it is cost-effective.

NIA calls on DECC Ministers to make announcements of their intentions for ECO post 2017 & GDHIF before the summer recess.

We are today calling on DECC Ministers to make announcements about their intentions for the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) post 2017 and the future of the Green Deal Home Improvement Fund (GDHIF) before the Summer Recess (21st July 2015).

Recent figures published by DECC and Ofgem on ECO showed that the energy companies have already made significant progress towards their targets for ECO2 (April 2015 - end March 2017) and that based on the installation rates in 2014/15 the target could be achieved one year early in Q1 2016. This is reflected in the major slowdown in ECO activity where just 29,000 measures were installed in April 2015, a 2 year low and compares to 51,000 measures in March 2015 and 58,000 in April 2014.

In addition, the £450m Green Deal Home Improvement Fund which was designed to compensate for the shortfall in ECO activity following Government cuts to the scheme in 2014 is also on hold whilst decisions are awaited from Minsters.

The combined effect of these two factors has resulted in a collapse in insulation activity which is harmful to householders and the industry alike.

Finally the annual progress report published by the Committee on Climate Change this week highlighted that all main insulation measures are behind the required trajectory to achieve the UK's carbon reduction targets - in the case of solid wall insulation some 500,000 behind trajectory.  The Committee also recommended to Government that urgent decisions were needed on the future of ECO post 2017 to provide some assurance to the supply chain.

Therefore we are today calling on DECC Ministers to announce their intentions for the ECO post 2017 and GDHIF before the House of Commons rises for the Summer Recess on 21st July 2015.