Tonight:
4°c
Cheap insulation for all but no free fuel vouchers
Paul Waugh and Nicholas Cecil10 Sep 2008
Every household in Britain will get help with its fuel bill under a deal hammered out between the Government and the major energy firms.
All 25 million homes will be eligible for discounts on loft and cavity wall insulation and other improvements designed to cut energy consumption, the Evening Standard has learned.
The old and needy will get free home improvements but the scale of the scheme suggests that ministers are determined to help the middle classes as well.
About 11 million households are considered most vulnerable to rising fuel costs this winter and utility firms have agreed that they will help fund a £1 billion package to provide long-term help.
But trade unions and Labour MPs will still be disappointed that a "windfall tax" on energy companies' profits has been shelved.
The Prime Minister, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn and Business Secretary John Denham are due to announce the deal and Downing Street confirmed the scheme would be unveiled formally tomorrow. Electricity and gas companies were this afternoon finalising some of the details.
A plan to provide six million poorer families with fuel vouchers worth between £50 and £100 was scrapped after ministers failed to agree on how it should be funded. Another option - to increase the price of pollution permits sold by the EU - was ditched after opposition from Brussels.
But ministers are pleased they have persuaded energy firms to provide an extra £800 million funding.
The "big six" energy companies - Centrica, EDF Energy, Scottish Power, Scottish and Southern, E.ON and NPower - will increase their contribution to the Government's carbon emissions reduction target scheme by at least 20 per cent over three years.
Final talks have covered increasing the additional contribution to 30per cent with the big six contributing another 5per cent, and the rest coming from the independent power generators, Drax, British Energy and International Power.
Although power providers have been taking part in the existing three-year, £3 billion scheme that obliges them to pay for insulation and low-energy light bulbs, the power generators have until now not made similar contributions.
It is claimed that cavity wall and loft insulation can cut bills by £275 a household each year.
Prices increases by the firms this year mean that 5.4 million households are facing fuel poverty, defined as having to spend more than 10 per cent of income on energy.
The deal follows a frosty reception given to Gordon Brown last night by union chiefs who hosted a private dinner for him at the Grand Hotel in Brighton where the Trades Union Congress is holding its annual conference.
They told Mr Brown that "the jury is out" on his performance as Prime Minister after he delivered a 20-minute speech during which he warned of the cuts Tories were planning including those in the health service "to pay for inheritance tax cuts for millionaires".
TUC delegates are highly critical of government policy, particularly of the two per cent pay limit for public sector workers.
Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, the UK's largest union, said of Mr Brown: "He has got to start listening to people. People want to know what the Government is going to do to help them with their problems."
Mr Woodley said there was "no doubt" that the Prime Minister "had the interests of the ordinary people at heart".
But he added: "What is he going to do to make sure we do not go back to the bad old days? He has got to act by the time he addresses the Labour Party conference in two weeks. The jury is out."
Dave Prentis, general secretary of Unison and TUC president, told Mr Brown "Labour must do more to set us apart from the Tories," although he did add: "You are among friends."
Reader views (2)
I live in a council flat owned by Hackney Council. They are busy installing double glazing and combi boilers but do not appear to have any plans to provide cavity wall insulation. Once again, the poorest citizens will be left out in the cold.
- Paulus, London UK, 11/09/2008 06:52
Report abuse
I am lucky, I have thick loft insulation, cavity wall insulation, double glazing, new combi boiler and full heating overhaul in last year. There is a limit to how far the thermostat can be turned down to remain comfortable. What more can I do to cut bills ? Where do they get these savings figures from? I can see little or no difference in the amount of therms of gas used since improvements were made, Can I retrospectivelty claim back some of the costs spent in the last year to improve my home, I doubt it.
- Andrew, Crowborough East Sussex, 10/09/2008 14:41
Report abuse
