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“There’ll be a pile in the new energy secretary’s in-tray”
When the new government finally takes shape, there will be a significant pile in the in-tray for the new energy secretary – whoever he or she may be following polling day yesterday.
The Green Deal – the coalition’s flagship energy efficiency policy, hailed by the then climate change minister Greg Barker as “transformational” – will be one of those things in the in-tray.
With only 12,076 Green Deal plans in progress at the end of March, a new, and more successful, energy efficiency scheme is needed.
Tackling energy bills will be a priority. Getting bills down by getting people to use less – with the added bonus of reducing demand and the need for new generating capacity – is something the new PM will be ensuring their representative at Decc gets on with quickly.
The Green Deal failed to catch the public imagination and create the retrofitting wonderland Barker envisaged. Many homes remain cold and draughty.
The energy suppliers could be keen on a retrofitting revolution, too, as this would see bills fall for households, and the accusing finger of rising bills pointing at them would be lowered – at least for a little while.
There is also the matter of getting a tough new EU climate package agreed by all member states; getting the Hinkley Point C deal signed off and construction started; making carbon capture and storage happen; the small issue of shale gas and fracking; and many, many other issues sitting in the in-tray at 3 Whitehall Place – all with urgent stamped on them.
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