Household energy consumption is responsible for 27% of all UK carbon emissions. Reducing household energy consumption is central to efforts to mitigate climate change and can help decrease poverty by reducing household energy bills. The Government encourages the installation of energy efficiency measures through obligations on energy suppliers. The Government also seeks to influence householder behaviour through the provision of information on energy saving measures and the labelling of the energy efficiency of appliances. Building Regulations specify energy efficiency standards for new dwellings. European Union regulations set minimum energy efficiency standards for some appliances, such as fridges and freezers.

Together these programmes cost the UK around £2.6 billion a year: a mixture of government expenditure and compliance costs borne by businesses and households. The value of the potential energy savings is significant; the typical household could save around £300 a year from introducing energy efficiency measures.

To meet economy-wide energy consumption targets, household energy consumption must fall by 11% by 2010 and a further 2% by 2016, compared with 2001-05 levels. To meet the government's longer-term carbon targets, household energy consumption will need to reduce by 36% by 2020, compared to 2001-05. The government's programmes may have contributed to the reduction in household energy consumption in the last three years, 2004 to 2007, which followed a long-term trend of rising household energy consumption. Overall, however, household energy consumption was still 8% higher in 2007 than in 1990.

Without sufficient improvements in energy efficiency, energy consumption may rise again due to trends such as the growth in the number of households, the demand to use more electronic appliances and a desire to live in warmer homes. To offset these upward pressures and achieve further reductions, the key challenges for Government are how to strengthen and improve enforcement of minimum energy efficiency standards for new homes, and how to coordinate and focus government programmes to increase the energy efficiency of existing homes and achieve behaviour change by householders.

On the basis of a Report by the Comptroller and Auditor General,[1] we took evidence on progress in reducing household energy consumption from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (the Department), which was recently formed with the aim of bringing together energy and climate change policy, and from the Department for Communities and Local Government, which has responsibility for delivering some of the supporting programmes.