A new campaign, the Energy Bill Revolution, was launched today, calling on the Government to use the money it gets from carbon tax revenue (including from EU ETS auction revenues!!) to make UK homes super-energy efficient.
Ground-breaking analysis undertaken by energy efficiency experts Camco has calculated that on average the Government will raise £4 billion a year in carbon taxes over the next 15 years. They estimate that if this revenue were recycled to households to spend on energy efficiency measures, it would be enough to bring 9 out of 10 households out of fuel poverty. It could also be used to create 200,000 jobs and quadruple carbon emission cuts compared to the Government’s new energy efficiency schemes.
The new research also presents the most up-to-date assessment of the number of households in fuel poverty today and the number of households at risk in the future. It finds that 6.4 million households are now suffering from fuel poverty across the UK,meaning they need to spend more than 10% of their income to keep their homes warm.
The research reveals the risk that fuel poverty could affect 9.1 million households by 2016, the year in which the Government has a target to eliminate fuel poverty. This is a potential rise of 40% which would increase the number of UK households in fuel poverty from one in four to one in three.
More fuel poverty means more people living in cold homes, further damaging the health of vulnerable members of society, including children, older people, and people with disabilities and illnesses.
The research uses the Government’s estimate for the most likely future gas prices. It also takes into account the future impact of the Government’s new energy efficiency policies. It is the most authoritative, independent assessment of how effective they are likely to be yet published. It includes analysis of their flagship Green Dealprogramme, as well as the new Energy Company Obligation which will provide subsidies for insulation. It shows these programmes will fall short of meeting both climate change and fuel poverty targets unless significantly more financial support from the Government is provided.
If carbon revenue – from the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Carbon Floor Price –were recycled back to households to spend on energy efficiency measures, it could be used to help all households or used to support the most vulnerable. It could provide, for example, an average grant of £6,500 to make 600,000 fuel poor homes highly energy efficient every year. This would bring down their energy bills each year by £310 and remove 9 out of 10 homes out of fuel poverty within 15 years. The rest would have their homes brought up to the energy efficiency standard of a home built today.
A petition is being launched today at www.energybillrevolution.org to raise public and parliamentary support for the campaign. The campaign petition is already backed by over 50 leading charities,, NGOs, unions, consumer groups and businesses, including the National Children’s Bureau, Save the Children, The Children’s Society, NationalPensioners’ Convention, Consumer Focus, The Co-operative Group, USwitch, Kingfisher, IKEA, Asda, Kingspan, National Energy Action, Macmillan CancerSupport, TUC, GMB, NUS, Unite, The Centre for Sustainable Healthcare, Friendsof the Earth and Sandbag!