The most important consultation for decades

The Government are currently seeking views on additional measures and incentives that will encourage home-owners to invest in energy efficiency improvements.

Over the years we have all hoped that ‘energy efficiency’ would rise up the agenda for the 27 million home owners and occupiers in the UK. However this is the first time ever that Government are asking industry to contribute with, amongst a wide range of topics, our views on whether there should be a link between Energy Efficiency and stamp duty or council tax.

If you are passionate about energy efficiency and believe that you have a solution that will create a real difference we strongly encourage you to respond to this watershed consultation.

The Call for Evidence document is 58 pages long and has 42 questions and topics for discussion, but even if you only answer limited questions this is better than nothing.

Within the ‘Building a market for energy efficiency’ document the executive summary states: “Affordable energy and clean growth are central objectives of the UK’s Industrial Strategy” “Energy efficiency brings a wide range of benefits to households, businesses, society and the energy system as a whole. More efficient homes mean lower energy bills and improved health and comfort for homeowners and are worth more than less efficient homes.” “Improving energy efficiency is also one of the most cost-effective ways the UK has for meeting carbon budgets, and can lead to greater efficiencies and cost-savings across the energy system.” “The UK has made good progress on energy efficiency in recent years. The average Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) rating for homes has improved steadily year on year since 2010.” “The Clean Growth Strategy, features a number of policies aimed at improving the energy efficiency of domestic properties ...  [with] an ambition for as many homes as possible, where practical, cost-effective and affordable, to reach EPC C by 2035.”

The Government sets out 6 principles within the document:

1. Polices must be coherent:
2. Polices must be cost effective:
3. Policies must align with consumer needs and motivation:
4. Policies should unlock the full value of energy efficiency:
5. Policies should exploit “what works” in the current home improvement market:
6. Policies should be support innovation:

Elmhurst have called for all these 6 points over the years and this is why it is important to respond.

Stuart Fairlie – Technical Director of Elmhurst Energy: 

“The Clean Growth Strategy issued at the end of 2017 gave a medium to long term vision for the UK in terms of energy efficiency. We have since been bombarded by various consultations with more detail. However this consultation is historic, in my entire professional career involved in energy efficiency, it is the first real sign by any Government to ask how home owners can be incentivised to improve the efficiency of their homes. Nothing is off the table and as Elmhurst have suggested many times over our 25 year history; we need to link either council tax or stamp duty to EPCs in order to get energy efficiency up the agenda. We strongly encourage anyone who has campaigned to make energy efficiency part and parcel of home ownership (or rental) to respond. We must take this opportunity to have our voices heard. We need to get families to understand the asset that they live in, and what they can do to improve it; this is in our opinion is the break through chance to move the EPC to the next level and make a real difference to people's lives.”

As the UK's largest EPC Accreditation Scheme Elmhurst has drafted a response here to ensure that energy assessors and EPCs continue to be at the heart of good advice, that homeowners realise the importance of energy efficiency in their home, and vitally, government create a catalyst for change. We believe that everything should be focussed on helping families to live in cheaper to run and warmer homes.

Elmhurst encourage all our members to respond with their own thoughts; but if you wish to give us your ideas, we will endeavour to cover these points in our overall response which we will publish nearer the deadline.

Contact us at: info@elmhurstenergy.co.uk

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Elmhurst draft response: Read here. 

Deadline for responses: 11.45pm 9^th January 2017

Full Consultation Link: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/building-a-market-for-energy-efficiency-call-for-evidence

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Article Published: 5th January 2018