Report: UK Made Little Progress on Energy Efficiency in Homes

According to the National Infrastructure Commission (NIC), despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine highlighting the need to reduce reliance on gas for home heating, ministers have made negligible progress in improving the energy efficiency of UK homes.

Despite the need for increased investment to meet the UK’s economic and climate goals, the annual report of the independent infrastructure tsars warned that progress toward improving the UK’s infrastructure stuttered further last year.

Despite the fact that the UK’s reliance on gas cost the economy billions of dollars due to Europe’s energy crisis, the report took aim at the government’s record on insulation of the UK’s drafty housing stock and the slow adoption of electric heat pumps to help cut home heating emissions.

Sir John Armitt, the seat of the NIC, said there was a huge hole between long haul desire and ebb and flow execution, which required a switch of gear in foundation strategy. According to Armitt, this means fewer low-stakes incremental changes and instead placing some bigger strategic bets, backed by public funding where necessary.

In spite of an administration desire for something like 600,000 intensity siphons to be introduced every year by 2028, just 55,000 were fitted in 2021, while 1.5m gas boilers were fitted. The NIC urged the government to develop a concrete plan and laid the blame for the lack of progress on inadequate government funding and key policies.

According to the report, in 2022, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sharp rise in gas prices, which increased the cost of energy and threatened supply security. Between October 2022 and June 2023, the government is now directly subsidizing the energy consumption of households and businesses, setting prices for the average household at 2,500 pounds per year.