Template email asking MPs to take action for clean heat
Dear [your MP’s name],
I am a constituent of yours and I am concerned about inefficient homes and their impact on people’s health and the climate. I’m pleased to see that the government has set out a strategy for tackling energy efficiency in some homes and introducing measures to help some to upgrade fossil fuel boilers to super efficient heat pumps that can be run on home-grown renewable electricity. But I’m concerned the plan doesn’t go far enough, particularly during the current gas price crisis, as these measures could help keep bills down for many more households and help to protect even more families from future international energy price spikes.
I would like you to write to the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, Kwasi Kwarteng, to request that they work together to strengthen the heat and buildings strategy and investment deal needed to tackle climate change and support people who are paying too much to heat their homes.
Home heating accounts for 14% of the UK’s total carbon emissions, so it’s vital the Government takes the ambitious action required to put us on track to cutting carbon from the sector. Unfortunately, this strategy doesn’t match up to the scale of the challenge. Although there are some welcome parts to the plan, such as phasing out the installation of new gas boilers by 2035, and introducing new ways to make super efficient heat pumps more affordable through market based mechanisms, there are important omissions.
Measures to improve energy efficiency will be an important pillar of any strategy to decarbonise heat - helping lower energy demand and reduce overall costs. And with the current energy crisis, it’s more important than ever that households are supported to reduce their need for energy to keep costs down. Yet the strategy and recent Spending Review provided no support for energy efficiency measures for the majority of owner-occupiers, who make up two thirds of all the households in the UK, and live in the homes that emit the most carbon. Although the Chancellor has given a strategic steer to the UK Investment Bank to support homeowners to improve energy efficiency, lessons from the highly successful German KfW scheme show that loans require a subsidy element to incentivise uptake. This will require further investment from the Treasury.
Secondly, the funding announced in the strategy and Spending Review for greener homes does not meet the scale of the challenge for tackling climate change. It’s £2 billion short of the Conservative’s manifesto commitment for heat and energy efficiency, and £9.75 billion short of what the Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (EEIG) says is needed this Parliament for insulation and heat pumps to get on track for net zero.*
Decarbonising home heating is a challenge, but by addressing the issue with the scale of funding called for, we have the chance to make Britain’s homes both more comfortable and affordable to heat, while also bringing us closer to meeting our legal obligations to cut carbon emissions and providing good green jobs and the chance to level up.
Please write to the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for BEIS to ensure they work together in the run up to the next budget to put in place both the policies and funding to meet the challenge of decarbonising our homes, by:
fulfilling the outstanding £2bn commitments from the Conservative Manifesto, including £1.6bn promised to support low-income households yet to be delivered through the Home Upgrade Scheme and Social Housing Decarbonisation Scheme.
introducing a long-term energy efficiency scheme open to all, brought in alongside new regulatory and non-financial measures to accelerate the decarbonisation of owner occupier homes. Currently, 80% of low to mid-income households living in inefficient homes do not have access to nationally available energy efficiency funding.
Kind regards,
[Your name and postcode]
*Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group (2021). Still waiting for the green light. https://www.theeeig.co.uk/news/starstarnew-reportstarstar-eeig-analysis-of-the-heat-and-buildings-strategy/