19^th Mar 2014

Baroness Verma has just presented a new amendment to the House of Lords that will mean any landlords who are experiencing void periods can install energy efficiency measures into their properties. This will be made available through ECO, the Energy Company Obligation.

 Baroness Verma,  the parliamentary undersecretary for energy and climate change, wants to “remove the constraints” that landlords are presently facing under the exiting scheme.
 
Peers were told that she wants  to make "complex" retrofits easier to complete this includes solid wall installations.

Baroness Verma said: “I believe that these amendments to the ECO order, while modest overall, will none the less be vital in ensuring that the scheme continues to progress as smoothly as possible.”

The Liberal Democrat peer Lord Teverson agreed wholeheartedly to the changes as it makes “common sense” and he welcomed the amendment as landlords should be allowed to install Eco measures if their property was empty.

He said: “If I were in that situation, whether I was the future owner or the contractor, that is exactly what I would want to do.”

Labour’s Baroness Worthington said the amendment “helps to clarify, simplify and tidy up a number of issues” and that “making Eco work more effectively is obviously a good thing.”