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Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · 8d

The Government has allocated £13 billion to the Warm Homes Plan. But what should it do with the money?

Priority should be given to the poorest households who spend twice as much of their family budgets on energy bills as the richest households.

Read more👉 buff.ly/PGjbi38

The Plan aims to address the twin challenges of reducing energy bills while also driving decarbonisation of home heating.

The Government is pledging £13 billion to make homes cleaner and cheaper to heat – but not enough to overhaul the entire housing stock. This means that some prioritisation is needed.

The ''who, how, and what,'' are all key considerations.

Poorer households will get a greater living standards boost from energy efficiency improvements.

While no more likely to live in badly insulated homes, these households spend twice as much of their budgets on energy bills - 10 per cent for the poorest quintile compared to 5 per cent for the richest.

So capital spending should be focussed on them.

Almost all low income households could be made eligible through a system based on incomes, three times more than through welfare passporting or based on area.

Grants should target measures with the biggest impact: loft insulation, filling cavity walls, solar panels. These would lock in permanent energy bill savings of 14 per cent for those in the poorest fifth of households (in homes with an EPC rating of D or lower).

The Government has to balance spending on insulation and clean heating.

Acting to reduce bills will mean less to spend on rolling out heat pumps.

But this doesn’t mean giving up on clean heat, far from it.

Ministers should be bolder with regulations to accelerate the roll out of heat pumps.

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

Interesting energy consumption stats out today - electric cars and domestic heat pumps now account for more than 5% of total electricity use www.gov.uk/government/s...

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Simon Jeffrey @simonjeffrey.bsky.social · 14d

If govt wants lower bills, especially for lower income households, it needs to pay for it through tax rises right now. Fiddling around with standing charges is deck chair rearrangement - and people who end up with higher bills will make more noise than those who get a cut from this.

Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

Lower standing charges aren’t the answer to high energy bills: a tariff with a 50% cut in standing charges would only see one in six families save more than £100 on energy bills – 43 per cent would see bills increase

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

Other ways of cutting bills (such as nil-rating VAT) are seemingly being discussed in Government too, but we’ll have a @resfoundation.bsky.social note out next month on how to cut bills in a way that works both distributionally and environmentally

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

And those that do save would see smaller average savings than those who lose out - £67 per year compared with £90 per year.

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

Any potential benefits wouldn’t be focussed on lower income families – just 18 per cent of the poorest fifth of households could save £100 or more from a low standing charge tariff, a similar proportion to the richest fifth

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

The regulator can’t wish costs away: lower standing charges mean higher unit costs – penalising those with high energy demand and actively working against the net zero transition by making electric cars and heat pumps more expensive to run

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · 14d

Lower standing charges aren’t the answer to high energy bills: a tariff with a 50% cut in standing charges would only see one in six families save more than £100 on energy bills – 43 per cent would see bills increase

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 27

Unit prices relatively unchanged, but still way higher than pre-crisis levels. Higher unit prices are a big deal as we head into winter when families use most of their energy

Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 27

Most of this change in energy bills being driven by an increase in standing charges, which are up for both gas and for electricity into Q4

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Resolution Foundation @resfoundation.bsky.social · Aug 20

How should the Government prioritise its £13 billion Warm Homes Plan budget?

Priority should be given to the poorest households who spend twice as much of family budgets on energy bills as the richest households.

Read more: buff.ly/PGjbi38

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Zachary Leather @zackleather.bsky.social · Aug 11

Great to see Guardian cover our research today - it's flats and smaller houses that are most at risk of overheating, so should be no surprise that vulnerable families will be more at risk.

Important to think about cooling homes as well as warming them!

The Guardian @theguardian.com · Aug 10

Low-income and minority ethnic people in England most at risk from dangerously hot homes

Exclusive: Homes are heating up as summers get hotter but least well-off are shouldering greatest risk, study finds * Why UK housing is dangerously unprepared for impact of climate crisis * From shutters to reflective paint: how to prevent UK homes overheating Lower-income householders, minority ethnic people and those with young children are more likely to live in homes at risk from dangerous overheating, research has found. The UK has baked in multiple heatwaves this summer, with many people sweltering in dangerously hot homes that were not designed to withstand extreme temperatures. June was the hottest on record and in general this summer England was an average of 1.58C above average temperatures. Continue reading...

www.theguardian.com

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

Full report here www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

No country for cold homes • Resolution Foundation

The Government’s imminent Warm Homes Plan aims to overhaul England’s housing stock so homes are cheaper and cleaner to keep warm. This note sets out how it can best work to improve living standards fo...

www.resolutionfoundation.org

Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

Instead they can be effective at helping those on higher incomes bridge credit constraints that are currently holding back efforts to decarbonise homes

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

And at the Spending Review it was confirmed that £5bn of funding would be loans. Loans are good for meeting fiscal rules but less useful for poorer families than grants

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

This doesn’t mean giving up on clean heat, far from it. Ministers should be bolder with regulations to shift the upfront costs of the heating transition away from the Exchequer (more on this in www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...)

Turning up the heat • Resolution Foundation

Decarbonising home heating is one of the knottiest parts of the net zero transition, with big implications on families’ finances and behaviour. This report examines progress so far and discusses what ...

www.resolutionfoundation.org

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

What – The Government has to balance spending on insulation and clean heating. These don’t have the same implications for living standards: some are far better at cutting bills and some much better at reducing emissions

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

How – The Government is toying with three approaches to ensuring grants reach vulnerable households. We find that one based on household incomes performs far better than using benefit eligibility or area-based eligibility

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

Who – while poorer households are no more likely to live in badly insulated homes, they will get a greater living standards boost from energy efficiency improvements. This means capital spending should be focussed on them

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

The Labour Government is pledging a LOT of money to make homes cleaner and cheaper to heat – but not enough to overhaul the entire housing stock. This means that some prioritisation is needed

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Aug 7

⚡⚡ New @resfoundation.bsky.social note out today looking at how the Government should prioritise its £13 billion Warm Homes Plan budget ⚡⚡ www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications...

No country for cold homes • Resolution Foundation

The Government’s imminent Warm Homes Plan aims to overhaul England’s housing stock so homes are cheaper and cleaner to keep warm. This note sets out how it can best work to improve living standards fo...

www.resolutionfoundation.org

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Zachary Leather @zackleather.bsky.social · Jul 24

Good to see the flexibility roadmap out today. Flex is key to a cheaper energy system, so great that Gov is committed to this. Especially big savings coming for those with big techs like EVs and heat pumps.

www.gov.uk/government/p...

Clean flexibility roadmap

A roadmap setting out the government’s vision for a clean, flexible, consumer-focused electricity system.

www.gov.uk

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Jonny Marshall @jonnymarshall.bsky.social · Jul 22

Shame to see rising block tariffs suggested. A bad idea for poorer families that use lots of energy, but also not great for incentivising people to consume more electricity in electric cars or heat pumps

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · Jul 22

Ed Miliband has been urged by more than 100 Labour MPs to explore overhauling UK energy bills.

He is understood to be considering a number of options for progressive energy pricing, inc discounts for the least intensive consumers – known as rising block tariffs

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

More than 100 Labour MPs urge Ed Miliband to explore radical energy bills overhaul

Living Standards Coalition writes to energy secretary calling on him to do more to help struggling households

www.theguardian.com

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Alex Belsham-Harrris @alexbelsham-harris.bsky.social · Jul 22

The challenge of energy affordability is very real, but rising block tariffs aren’t the answer. People on low incomes with poorly insulated homes or who need more energy for health reasons could see rising bills, while those with multiple homes or can install solar panels avoid paying a fair share

Jessica Elgot @jessicaelgot.bsky.social · Jul 22

Ed Miliband has been urged by more than 100 Labour MPs to explore overhauling UK energy bills.

He is understood to be considering a number of options for progressive energy pricing, inc discounts for the least intensive consumers – known as rising block tariffs

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

More than 100 Labour MPs urge Ed Miliband to explore radical energy bills overhaul

Living Standards Coalition writes to energy secretary calling on him to do more to help struggling households

www.theguardian.com

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Adam Corlett @adamcorlett.bsky.social · May 21

@resfoundation.bsky.social colleagues noted last year that extending Winter Fuel Payments to pensioners on Housing Benefit would target low incomes at a cost of £100m (& a HB - Pension Credit merger is planned longer-term).

Another £200m could extend WFPs to those on Attendance Allowance, DLA & PIP

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