E3G, the climate change think tank, published its Home Energy Security Strategy on 7 June 2022, calling on the government to launch a national mission to upgrade the UK's cold and leaky homes. The strategy sets out six areas for action: efficiency support for vulnerable households, a new ECO Plus scheme, supply chain investment, better consumer advice, green finance and restructured incentives1.
The document states that when the energy price cap rises again in October, the average household in a home rated EPC D or below, which it puts at at least 15.3 million UK households, will pay an "inefficiency penalty" of £916 more per year for adequate heating than the average household living in a home rated EPC C or better. If every home below EPC C was improved, E3G says the aggregate bill saving would be £10.6bn each year at today's prices1.
E3G cites Ofgem's prediction that the energy price cap will hit £2,800 in October, and says analysts predict wholesale prices will remain above 2021 levels until at least 2030. It states the government has provided £37bn this year just to keep people afloat1.
The strategy's proposals include delivering the outstanding £1.4bn from the 2019 Conservative manifesto for efficiency, and putting the next phase of the ECO programme into legislation to upgrade 450,000 fuel poor homes over the next three years. It proposes an "ECO Plus" scheme giving families on middle and lower incomes access to subsidised energy efficiency measures delivered by their energy companies, which it says could support up to 2.1m households over three years with £1bn per year1.
"The Home Energy Security Strategy calls on the government to:"
Other measures include an Olympic-style skills and training programme for the retrofit supply chain, strengthened private rented sector minimum energy efficiency standards, a roadmap to minimum performance standards for all housing tenures including owner-occupiers, and independent energy advice. On incentives, E3G proposes removing legacy policy costs from electricity bills, which it says would save households around £100 per year and remove a barrier to clean, electric heating, and introducing tax incentives such as an energy saving stamp duty land tax adjustment. It also proposes new reporting requirements on mortgage lenders and concessional green home finance through the UK Infrastructure Bank in the medium term1.
| Proposal | Figure given |
|---|---|
| Outstanding manifesto efficiency funding | £1.4bn |
| Fuel poor homes upgraded under next ECO phase | 450,000 over 3 years |
| ECO Plus funding | £1bn per year |
| Households ECO Plus could support | up to 2.1m over 3 years |
| Annual saving from removing policy costs from electricity bills | around £100 per household |
Why it matters for households
The strategy frames home energy efficiency as a matter of energy security rather than only of bills. Its central claim is that the gap between a poorly rated home and one at EPC C or better carries a measurable annual cost, which it puts at £916 for the average household in a home rated EPC D or below1. For a household, that figure represents the price of the building itself rather than of the energy going into it, and it is the part of a bill that insulation, glazing and heating upgrades are intended to remove.
The proposals also touch on who pays and how. ECO Plus would extend subsidised measures beyond the fuel poor to middle and lower income households, delivered through energy companies, while the green finance proposals concern mortgage lending and lending through the UK Infrastructure Bank1. The electricity bill proposal would shift legacy policy costs off electricity, which E3G links to the running costs of clean electric heating1. The strategy does not set out how any of these would be administered for an individual home, and no delivery body, eligibility threshold or application route is given in the document.
What happens next
The strategy is a set of recommendations to government and carries no implementation date of its own. The dated points it refers to are external: the October rise in the energy price cap, which E3G says Ofgem has predicted will reach £2,800, and the three-year periods over which it proposes the next ECO phase and ECO Plus would run1. Whether the government adopts any of the measures has not been reported.