Cameron was reported to have ordered aides to “get rid of all the green crap” with regards to efforts to lower consumer energy bills. The move sparked a furious reaction from campaigners at the time for failing to live up to 2010 manifesto promises on the environment.
The ECIU has now calculated the long-term impact of this decision and believes it undermines the current government’s own ambitions to upgrade UK homes’ average energy efficiency from ‘band D’ to ‘band C’.
If insulation was being installed at the rate seen in 2012, the analysis found that up to nine million extra homes would have been upgraded – saving each household an estimated £170 each.
In July 2020, the government announced a £3bn package for British homeowners to make their houses more energy efficient and improve insulation efforts. The scheme offered households up to £10,000 to insulate their property, but it underperformed badly. The Public Accounts Committee called it a “slam dunk...