House of Commons - Programmes to reduce household energy consumption

Programmes to reduce household energy consumption - Public Accounts Committee Contents

2 Encouraging householders to consume less energy

8. Encouraging householders to consume less energy is a major challenge but is necessary if energy consumption, carbon emissions and householders' energy bills are to be significantly reduced.[21] Although householders' awareness of energy consumption and climate change has risen in recent years, it is a difficult task to turn this awareness into action.[22] In a survey, 61% of Britons stated they 'do enough already' to save energy, yet 71% of them leave appliances on standby, 63% forget to turn lights off and 28% leave the heating on when their house is unoccupied.[23] Hotels in the UK routinely leave televisions on standby.[24] People in the UK also tend to prefer frost-free models of fridges and freezers, which are less energy efficient than other models.[25]

9. Householders may give energy efficiency a higher priority if they receive better information on how their behaviour contributes to their energy bills. Real-time displays enable people to read from the meter how much electricity they are currently using and to see how it increases as appliances are used.[26] Better information on energy bills may help householders understand their energy consumption and how it has changed. Smart meters allow remote meter reading, which is wholly accurate, and can be used alongside real-time displays. The government has recently decided that smart meters should be installed in all households by 2020, allowing two years to resolve design issues and ten years for the subsequent roll-out.[27] The Department estimates that introducing smart meters will cost between £7.5 and £16.1 billion, with additional ongoing costs of between £0.2-£0.3 billion per year.[28] The Department confirmed that the cost would be met by suppliers who would be likely to recover the cost by raising energy prices.[29]

10. The main programmes providing advice on energy consumption and energy efficiency are the Energy Saving Trust, the 'Act on CO2' campaign and Energy Performance Certificates. Other potential sources of advice include energy supply companies, plumbers, builders, insulation suppliers and DIY stores. We concluded that householders would be more likely to act upon tailored advice that was provided in person by a single, trusted, source. This advice would ideally be provided through a home energy audit, identifying where energy savings could be made and providing specific advice on installing energy saving measures. By contrast, current approaches rely on online information and checklists which are too generalised.[30]

11. Departments have recently taken some steps to coordinate and simplify the advice provided, such as bringing all information campaigns under the 'Act on CO2' banner, a single helpline for energy efficiency advice and an online checklist providing advice from the Energy Saving Trust.[31] The Department recognised, however, that some people preferred other, more personal, forms of advice. The Department will consult shortly on proposals for energy suppliers to be able to provide home energy audits to householders as part of their work on energy efficiency. It will also consult on a Community Energy Saving Programme, where energy suppliers and energy generators would deliver, with local partners such as local authorities and community organisations, energy efficiency measures in areas of high deprivation, giving advice on a street by street basis.[32]

12. If energy suppliers are to meet their energy savings targets, there needs to be a substantial increase in the rate of installation of energy efficiency measures, such as loft insulation. The Department stated that the rate of installations was increasing, with about 500,000 cavity wall and loft installations in the first half of 2008.[33] The Department has been working with industry to determine whether the supply chain would be able to deliver the government's programmes. Waiting times for the installation of insulation vary across the country but currently average less than five weeks, so the Department considered there was no indication of a bottleneck.[34]

13. The Department will soon be consulting on a package of measures to reduce the energy consumption of existing properties, including proposals on how to make it easier for people to act, how to address financial barriers to installing energy efficiency measures and how to heat homes more efficiently.[35] The Department recognised that there are particular challenges to improving the energy efficiency of "hard to treat" homes, which, for example, have solid walls or little loft space to insulate.[36]

14. We asked what assurance householders would have that they were being given good advice on necessary energy efficiency measures and that installers were reliable. The Department for Communities and Local Government noted that domestic energy assessors, who provide Energy Performance Certificates when a home is rented or sold, are properly trained and accredited. Cavity wall installers are registered with the Cavity Insulation Guarantee Agency. There is no standard, however, for loft insulation installers, who are mostly trained by their employers. The Department of Energy and Climate Change is working with the National Insulation Association and the Energy Saving Trust to look at how a standard might be established, but could not provide a date by which one would be introduced.[37]

15. The Department of Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs aim to improve the energy efficiency of appliances sold in the UK. They have been working with the EU on the Energy Using Products Directive, which will extend minimum standards to include electronic goods. The Government also works with manufacturers and retailers to secure voluntary improvements, such as phasing out energy inefficient light bulbs.[38]

16. Other policy areas, such as nutritional education, use simple traffic light indicators to provide comparative information to help consumers make choices.[39] The EU labelling scheme requires some products, including fridges, freezers, washing machines and tumble dryers, to show A to G energy efficiency ratings, supported by colour grades. The Department believed these ratings were understood by consumers. The EU will soon extend the labelling scheme to four further product groups: domestic lighting, televisions, boilers and water heaters. The Energy Saving Trust also runs the voluntary Energy Saving Recommended scheme to highlight the most energy efficient products. We suggested comparison websites would help consumers find out which products were more efficient.[40]

17. The Department of Energy and Climate Change is undertaking research to understand energy use in homes, including who is buying what appliances, the number and type of appliances in use and how much they are used.[41] These data will be needed to assess the effectiveness of information campaigns. The Department currently has relatively little hard data on how many people have changed their behaviour, by how much, for how long or the most effective ways to encourage change.[42]

18. Social housing and council housing landlords are required under the Decent Homes programme to meet certain standards of housing, including energy efficiency criteria. Local authorities and social landlords are expected to spend funding of £2.6 billion on this up till 2011, including £435 million from the energy suppliers, as part of their obligations to install energy efficiency measures. The Department for Communities and Local Government reported that social housing had received proportionately more energy efficiency investment than other homes, and the programme was on track to meet its objective.[43]

19. People living in privately rented properties have limited opportunity to improve the energy efficiency of their homes, which tend to contain fewer energy saving features than owner occupied or social housing.[44] Landlords have little incentive to invest in energy efficiency measures because tenants normally pay the energy bills. The Landlords Energy Saving Allowance provides tax relief to landlords who invest in energy efficiency measures, but there has been little take up since it was introduced in 2004.[45] The Department for Communities and Local Government agreed that this Allowance had not been successful.[46] An independent review of the experience of landlords and tenants, sponsored by the Department, recommended a 'light touch' licensing regime for landlords and regulation of letting agents to improve the quality of the private rented sector.[47]

21 Qq 3, 8-10, 27 Back

22 Qq 9-10, 27; C&AG's Report paras 6.5-6.6 Back

23 Qq 8, 10 Back

24 Q 27 Back

25 Qq 89-92 Back

26 Q 10 Back

27 Qq 93-98 Back

28 C&AG's Report, para 6.31 Back

29 C&AG's Report, para 6.31 Back

30 Qq 21-22, 24, 28 Back

31 Qq 22-24, 50 Back

32 Qq 24, 85-86 Back