Tories to make energy efficiency 'a consumer product' in bid to retrofit 25 million homes » Housing » 24dash.com

Every household will be entitled to claim up to £6,500 to make their homes more energy efficient under Conservative plans unveiled today by Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps.

Speaking at the Building Research Establishment in Watford today, Mr Shapps will outline proposals to make energy efficiency 'a consumer product' by enabling customers to sign 're-fit' deals with high street companies.

The announcement is part of a new programme to get 25 million homes 'greened up' to help save money for consumers while meeting environmental commitments under the Climate Change Act.

Utility companies, high street retailers and charities will supply the re-fit of homes. In return they will be able to claw back the money from new lower customer bills spread over 25 years.

Grant Shapps said: "Housing has a huge role to play in the reduction of carbon emissions and the climate change agenda. Currently 27% of all our carbon emissions come from our homes.

"And whilst ministers have tended to focus on new housing - 80% of the homes that we’ll be living in in 2050 are already built."

In his speech Grant Shapps will say: “Under a Conservative Government however, every household in this country will be entitled to a package of energy improvements using an allowance of up to £6,500. Utilities companies, charities, social landlords will improve homes with no cost to the home-owner.

“Imagine if you could walk into your favourite store, buy some clothes or do your weekly shop and then at the checkout, as you hand over your Clubcard; the cashier offers you the prospect of permanently lower utility bills. There’s nothing to pay, now or even later.

"Your home will be retrofitted and all you’ll notice is that it costs you less to heat and power it...Behind the scenes this retailer is working with the banking sector to fund the £6,500; resulting in home improvements like energy-efficient lighting… modern boilers… cavity and loft insulation.

"They make their money back through a 25-year investment.”

Commenting on today's speech, Jim Vine, from the Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF), said: “We welcome the Conservative Party’s focus on the need to retrofit the existing housing stock.

"BSHF’s recent report, 'The Future of Housing', identified retrofitting as one of eight key areas for urgent attention in the UK housing system.

"Shapps is correct in his analysis that zero carbon new homes will not be enough on their own – we will need to see the energy efficiency of existing homes improved too.
 
“The findings of BSHF’s report highlighted that the major barriers to a successful programme of retrofitting are identifying the right techniques and technologies, ensuring training provides a workforce with the required skills, and developing a viable funding model for the programme.

"Getting the funding right, in particular, will be essential, so the proposals to introduce a Green Deal to draw finance into retrofitting are certainly worthy of examination.”
 
Mr Vine added: “There are still plenty of details that need to be worked out the in the Conservatives’ proposals. Shapps refers, for example, to expenditure of up to £6500 per property, but many of the hardest to treat properties will cost a lot more than that to bring up to scratch.

"If capped at £6,500 per property this proposal would fail many of those in the most need.

"A retrofit programme might seek to benefit those households experiencing fuel poverty as a priority, but for them the average cost of retrofitting would stand at £8,820.
 
“There is also more work to be done in relation to the delivery of these improvements. Training and regulation will have to be put in place to ensure that those delivering the programme are able to meet standards and consumers receive the benefits they are entitled to.

"Likewise there must be regulation of the financial side of these transactions if the public are to have confidence in the system.”