The government announced a public information campaign designed to help people cut their energy use by 15 per cent this winter, a measure welcomed by the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA)1. The campaign sits alongside the Chancellor's autumn statement commitment of an additional £6bn from 2025 for energy efficiency measures1.
BESA, which represents the building engineering services sector, said the campaign would help but that "more ambitious" financial incentives and policy measures would also be needed to deliver the scale of building upgrades required to address energy costs and climate change1. The association pointed to research from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR), published with the pump manufacturer Grundfos, which found that UK businesses and homeowners were missing out on over £3bn worth of savings every year due to a lack of energy efficiency awareness and financial incentives1.
The CEBR/Grundfos findings on household behaviour included:
| Measure | Homeowners surveyed |
|---|---|
| Did not know when their boiler was last serviced | 12% |
| Not sure when their system was last checked for efficiency upgrades | 23% |
| Said rising energy prices were their biggest concern | 64% |
The homeowner figures come from a survey of 2,000 people, while a separate survey of 500 business owners found that 14 per cent had either never had a boiler service or had not had one in the last five years, and 20 per cent had not had an energy efficiency audit for more than five years1. Only 37 per cent of those business owners said they checked their eligibility for business grants, and only 32 per cent would seek advice on improving energy efficiency1.
"It is very frustrating that businesses are considering taking such draconian steps when improving building energy performance can be done quickly by adopting a series of relatively simple and low-cost measures."
Rowlando Morgan, CEBR's head of environment, infrastructure and local growth, said a "critical lack of awareness" was a major barrier to take-up, alongside concern about "high upfront costs and a lack of available qualified installers"1. BESA listed turning down thermostats and heating flow temperatures, servicing boilers and other plant, improving insulation and replacing inefficient lightbulbs with LEDs as measures it said were not being widely adopted1.
Why it matters for households
A 15 per cent cut in energy use translates directly into a smaller bill for a household paying for its own gas and electricity, and into less demand on the grid at the points of highest winter strain. The CEBR figures suggest a large share of homes are not being maintained in ways that would hold consumption down: more than one in ten homeowners did not know when their boiler was last serviced, and nearly a quarter were unsure when their system was last checked for efficiency upgrades, even though almost two thirds named rising prices as their biggest concern1. The barriers identified were awareness, upfront cost and the availability of qualified installers, not unwillingness1. For a household, the practical link between a serviced boiler, a lower flow temperature and a lower bill is the same link that underpins energy independence: less energy bought in, less exposure to price. The regulation-policy hub carries the wider policy picture, and the department responsible is covered in DESNZ: The Government Department Behind Home Energy Policy. Rules differ by nation, including Scottish Building Standards and the Building Warrant System, Energy and Buildings Policy in Wales: What the Welsh Government Controls and the energy efficiency standards for privately rented homes in Scotland.
What happens next
The £6bn for energy efficiency measures is stated as running from 20251. No start date, delivery body, budget or specific measures for the public information campaign have been reported1.
Sources1 cited
- UK Missing Out On ‘Easy Energy Savings’, Says BESA, thebesa.com