Department of Energy and Climate Change
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Who's lagging behind? Local insulation rates published.
A council by council area breakdown of how many British homes have been insulated by the Government’s energy saving scheme is published today.
Lagging lofts and filling cavity walls can save households over £100 in fuel bills every year.
The figures, published by the Energy Saving Trust (EST), are released on a regional, council and constituency basis. They show how much loft and cavity wall insulation was professionally installed under the Government’s Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) up until 31 March 2011. The CERT places requirements on energy companies to help consumers cut their emissions through energy efficiency.
Energy companies have been told by the Coalition Government to increase the help they make available to people to insulate their homes and save money. A total of 3.5 million homes are set to benefit by December 2012 as a result of a tougher CERT.
Key statistics include:
- Over the last year (April 2010 to March 2011), the largest number of insulation measures were installed in Birmingham (12,079); Leeds (11,244); Bradford (9,078); Fife (8,163); Wiltshire (7,872).
- The lowest number of insulation measures were installed on the Isles of Scilly (0); Westminster (39); Kensington and Chelsea (177); Hackney (272); Shetland Islands (349).
- The top five performing local authorities under the CERT scheme over the past three years, in terms of percentage of housing stock insulated, are Kirklees (24.8%); Isle of Anglesey (22.5%); Carmarthenshire (19.2%); South Ribble (19%); Wyre (18.2%).
- The five local authorities that have seen the lowest percentage of the housing stock insulated over the past three years through CERT are City of London (<0.1%); Westminster (0.3%); Kensington and Chelsea (0.8%); Hackney (1.3%); Hammersmith and Fulham (1.6%).
Energy and Climate Change Secretary Chris Huhne said:
“With energy prices ramping up people want to know how they can keep their bills down. As well as shopping around for the best energy deal, insulating your home can also save you money straight away.
“We’ve told energy companies to do far more to help consumers cut their bills and while these figures show a mixed picture across Britain, they also show that millions of homes are already benefitting.
“For those who haven’t yet insulated their home, I’d really recommend them to pick up the phone, call the Energy Saving Trust and check out the help available to cut bills.
“To make energy efficiency far easier in the future, from next year we’ll be launching a national energy home improvement programme called the Green Deal. It will make energy efficiency work more affordable, removing the upfront costs and allowing people to repay through savings on their bills.”
People who want advice on insulating their home should call the Energy Saving TrustExternal link on 0800 512 012 to find out about the latest local offers on insulation that are available.
Notes for editors
The Energy Saving Trust report summarises where CERT insulation was installed between April 2008 and March 2011. The report is available on the EST website:External link
CERT is an obligation placed by the Government on gas and electricity suppliers to deliver a reduction in household carbon emissions across England, Scotland and Wales. It aims to help the UK meet its statutory carbon reduction targets. In helping households take up energy efficiency measures, it helps more households benefit from reduced energy bills and increased thermal comfort alongside increased security of supply from reducing energy demand and local air quality benefits.
There are a number of reasons why some regions have benefitted more than others under CERT to date, for example:
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The data provides only a snapshot of energy efficiency activity; different regions may benefit under other periods of the scheme.
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Some local authorities can attract activity to their areas.
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Suppliers will work where it is cheapest – close to where installers are based, where economies of scale exist, and in areas where access is not an issue.
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Some areas have a high proportion of properties that are not suitable for standard loft and cavity insulation.
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Some areas have large numbers of new homes that are built with better insulation and so do not require ‘CERT’ treatment.
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Figures released on 17 June 2011 showed that nearly half of Britain’s homes do not have adequate basic insulation. The figures showed that only 57% of Britain’s lofts had been properly insulated and only 58% of cavity walls had been filled.
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Under the Green Deal, households will be able to invest in energy efficiency improvements worth up to £10,000 where an impartial assessment identifies appropriate measures that can be expected to save at least as much money as they cost to install. Major domestic retrofits worth more than £10,000 will also be possible where Green Deal providers can demonstrate a higher level of consumer protection. The Green Deal will also be available to commercial properties.
DECC Ministers have taken a number of other recent steps aimed at ensuring consumers get a better deal:
