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The National Insulation Association has attacked the government’s estimated costs for the Energy Company Obligation Extension.
The association (NIA) and other energy efficiency and fuel poverty organisations have identified that the costs could be overstated by more than £200 million and claims it could mean thousands of fuel poor households miss out on support.
The Department for business, energy and industrial strategy (BEIS) recently conducted a consultation on the one-year extension of the Energy Company Obligation from April 2017 to the end of March 2018. It concluded that the extension would cost £640 million.
The consultation included an impact assessment, assumed costs and the target for the programme including the number of energy efficiency measures to be provided to householders.
NIA chief executive Neil Marshall said: “We are extremely concerned that the costs of delivery have been overstated and we, along with other organisations, have provided information and evidence to the Department for BEIS as to where we believe the overestimation of costs has arisen.
“If our calculations are verified and accepted, government will have the opportunity to revise the costs and set a target around 35 per cent higher than the current proposal meaning thousands more fuel poor households could benefit.”
If the figure is not corrected, the NIA says fuel poor households will receive a lot less support than they could otherwise, as 70 per cent of funding support will be directed at helping those households.
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