Energy efficiency pledges are ‘a joke’

The government’s award of £80 million for energy efficiency projects earlier this week has been branded a “joke” by a former Whitehall adviser.

Tom Burke, founder and chair of environmental consultancy E3G, dismissed the announcement earlier this week of additional funding for energy efficiency while giving evidence to the Praseg All Party Parliamentary Group’s inquiry into “Powering the Recovery” yesterday (2 July).

Energy minister Kwasi Kwarteng unveiled the investment, which included £25 million for heat networks that had already been announced, on Monday.

It emerged hot on the heels of the Committee on Fuel Poverty’s annual report, which criticised the government for failing to target energy efficiency funds effectively, and amidst concerns that chief No 10 adviser Dominic Cummings is blocking the release of funds promised for home upgrades in last December’s Tory manifesto because it is too “boring”.

Burke, who advised the then Michael Heseltine on environmental issues when the latter was deputy prime minister in the 1990s, said : “You couldn’t describe £80 million as anything but a joke.”

He also acknowledged that home upgrades are unlikely to generate the kind of headlines ministers crave.

Instead, Burke said responsibility for rolling out energy efficiency programmes should be devolved to local politicians, who are closer to neighbourhood concerns and are likely to be more trusted amidst the fallout from the coronavirus crisis.

“I understand why (national) politicians see it as a problem, which is why it really matters to put the delivery of this to local politicians, who are much closer to the people.

“Headlines are not outcomes and you have to be focused on getting the right outcomes.

“This (energy efficiency) is what gives the biggest bang per buck and pretty quickly.”

Michael Lewis, chief executive of Eon UK, agreed that energy efficiency is key, describing it as the “biggest and best investment that UK plc can make.”

He called for the Energy Company Obligation programme to be “ramped up” as part of a broader expansion of energy efficiency measures.

While acknowledging that the supplier funded scheme has a “number of flaws”, Lewis said: “It’s a mechanism that already exists and can be ramped up very, very quickly in response to the challenge in front of us.

“It’s not perfect but its already there and can be upscaled quickly.

“The demand is there and the supply chain is there. We’ve built a fantastic partnership with the supply chain and can turn on the tap relatively quickly.”

He also called for the government to double the £2.5 billion, committed in the Conservative manifesto during the current Parliament, to a new Home Upgrade Grants scheme.

Lewis said that bringing the UK’s homes up to scratch on energy efficiency would deliver £47 billion worth of benefits.