The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)’s latest report on how it plans to tackle the UK’s fuel poverty issues, has rightly, and unsurprisingly, been heavily hit with criticism from the residential housing and sustainability sectors.
The main crux of the issue lies in the Government’s loose ‘target’ to retrofit as many homes as is ‘reasonably practical’. While described as a target, this statement moreover serves as a convenient get out clause for policy makers, meaning that Government and those involved in tackling the issue, are able to celebrate any reduction in fuel poverty, no matter the size, and legitimise failure as being down to ‘unreasonable circumstances’.
What’s more, these so-called targets look even more woeful when the new, tougher definition of fuel poverty is used. In fact, the number of residents defined as fuel poor drops by a third.
The Government’s new proposal also throws another red-herring into the mix, by including a commitment to provide new, zero-carbon homes by 2016. While it’s high time that steps were taken to ensure all new builds are zero-carbon, this will have no effect for the majority of those deemed fuel poor who live in older domestic properties.
To permanently eradicate the country’s fuel poverty issues, what’s needed is a full and unreserved commitment, backed by legally binding targets. As such, the Government must provide a more coherent and defined approach in order to create strongly-worded and sufficiently funded energy efficiency targets.
David Kemp is sustainability manager at Procure Plus and Re:allies
