Question

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what help they are providing to householders off the gas grid who want to improve the energy efficiency of their homes.

The Government is actively encouraging all householders to invest in energy efficiency and reduce their energy bills.

The Green Deal is designed to help all householders in England and Wales improve the energy efficiency of their homes. A Green Deal assessment will identify the most cost-effective improvements to their home from a wide range of measures, such as condensing boilers (gas, oil and LPG), renewable heating and other microgeneration technologies, insulation and better glazing. Green Deal financing is also available to allow households to pay for these improvements via the estimated savings households will be expected to make on their energy bills. There have already been over 260,000 Green Deal assessments and 875,000 energy efficiency measures installed in 726,000 households through ECO, Cashback and Green Deal to the end of May 2014.

The ECO Affordable Warmth scheme obligates energy suppliers to meet targets by installing heating and insulation measures to low income, vulnerable households. By the end of April 2014, over 334,000 measures had been installed.

The legislation allows energy suppliers to support a wide range of measures. Energy suppliers can choose which measures to deliver, with a view to meeting their obligation in the most cost effective way. Delivery of boiler repairs and measures to non-gas households has been low to date.

Following a consultation on changes to ECO, we announced scheme amendments on 22 July which will provide stronger incentives for delivery of both new boilers in non-gas homes and boiler repairs. These changes include an ‘uplift’ that will make these forms of support more cost-effective for suppliers to undertake. The impact assessment suggests this will take the proportion of measures delivered to non-gas homes from 2% to 30% of Affordable Warmth measures.

More broadly changes are being made to the ECO Carbon Saving Communities rural sub-obligation to widen the eligibility criteria and make it easier for suppliers to identify and support eligible rural households.