The dramatic surge in energy prices has reinforced the need for a national programme of building retrofits, says the Building Engineering Services Association (BESA).
“Millions of people are now facing real hardship as a result of the soaring cost of gas and electricity, but we do not have a comprehensive plan for addressing a major contributory factor – the poor energy efficiency of our buildings,” says BESA’s head of technical Graeme Fox.
“The price of energy has never had a higher profile, but most of the talk about possible solutions either refers to short-term financial measures and adjustments to the tax regime or very expensive technical fixes like renewables and hydrogen. Yet, we can fix energy efficiency relatively quickly and cost-effectively through renovation and refurbishment.”
Ofgem has announced that the average energy bill for around 18 million households will rise by almost £700 from April. Chancellor Rishi Sunak has promised support via council tax rebates and a discount scheme that will need to be paid back over five years. However, energy market analysts have already predicted further price rises next year and beyond.
“The government is trying to help by redistributing taxpayers’ money to delay the full impact, but unless we fundamentally tackle the energy performance of both residential and commercial buildings this will simply become a bigger and bigger problem in the years to come,” adds Fox.
BESA has also welcomed a new report from the Department of Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy’s (BEIS) Select Committee, which has urged the government to invest more heavily in the decarbonisation of heating. According to the Association, many of the recommendations in the report would also have a positive impact on long-term energy consumption in buildings and help to lower bills.
The committee is calling for a replacement for the ill-fated Green Homes Grant, which would be delivered by regional and local government to try and avoid the bureaucratic problems that undermined the last scheme. It said this should be accompanied by a national consumer awareness campaign that would also explain the importance of energy efficiency measures to make low carbon heating technologies, like heat pumps, achieve their full potential.
“Any new low carbon heating incentives would be launching into a much more receptive marketplace now because of the growing alarm over rising energy bills,” says Fox.
Funding could also be aimed at the lowest income homes and those that are most difficult to retrofit to directly support those most likely to suffer most from rising energy costs, the report added. The committee also advised the government to bring forward the Future Homes Standard by two years to 2023, which would help to speed up energy saving improvements.
BESA also urges the government to consult with the industries directly involved in the decarbonisation of heat, such as building services, to fully understand the implications of its policy proposals not least on the need for investment in training and skills.
“We must work together to develop a national low carbon heating training programme to ensure we have the skills to deliver solutions on a scale that can both help tackle climate change and give consumers protection from rising bills,” says Fox.
