Government reacts to rising energy costs September 12, 2008
Posted by andrewmcd in UK Energy Policy, UK Energy Suppliers, UK energy, energy.Tags: energy-efficiency, uk electricity price, UK energy, UK Energy Policy, UK Energy Suppliers
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As if in reponse to our previous post for action, Prime Minister Gordon Brown this week unveiled £910m deal with some of the the biggest energy providers in order to tackle the huge increases in energy costs. It appears that the Government has began to take the energy efficiency message on board, and is implementing for a mass awareness campaign targeting those who are struggling the most to pay their energy bills. Coupled with this campaign are practical measures designed to help the most vulnerable in society. Amongst the measures that are outlined are:
- Free cavity wall and loft insulation for pensioners and poor households
- 50% off cost of insulation for all households
- Freeze on this year’s bills for half a million poor consumers
- Partial reversal of cut to warm front programme giving free central heating to poorest pensioners
- Cold weather payments to go up from £8.50 a week to £25 a week for pensioners, disabled people and unemployed families with children under five – if temperatures drop below zero for seven consecutive days
This is all a greatly encouraging, and we are enthusiastic at the attempt to get the energy efficiency message across. It is interesting to see the government and the energy companies addressing the issue. Hopefully, this will alleviate the billing pain being felt by many and increase the green energy momentum that has been lost. There are a great number of people who will benefit greatly from this scheme. Government officials are going to be going to the streets in an attempt to get the energy efficiency message across directly – a bold move.
We cannot help feel however that any positive effects achieved by this initial implementation are likely to be offset by the millions who will miss out. Like all these schemes and proposals, there will be those who are not ‘poor’ enough to receive support or ‘rich’ enough to implement the measures themselves. Surely, those caught in this bracket are going to prioritise. In the face of increasing food, clothing and petrol costs, is increasing the energy effieciency of a home likely to be priority?
