29th
Sep 2023
According to the BBC Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has quietly disbanded the government’s energy efficiency taskforce during this recent weekend. The team was set up in March this year in an effort to speed up boiler upgrades to heat pumps, increase home insulation and was chaired by Alison Rose ex Nat West chief.
Lord Callanan the energy efficiency minister wrote to all of the team’s members last Friday informing them of the end of the taskforce. The BBC has seen the letter and reports that Callanan says the taskforce’s work would be "streamlined" into government actions addressing energy efficiency issues.
He wrote that the group’s discussions and ensuing ideas had been "hugely valuable in supporting the ambition to reduce total UK energy demand by 15 per cent from 2021 levels by 2030."
He adds that the work to date had not been "wasted" and that "draft recommendations will be instrumental in driving forward this important agenda."
The taskforce's membership included the chair of the National Infrastructure Commission Sir John Armitt; head of leading housebuilder Barratt Developments, David Thomas; and leading experts from the University of Salford, the UK Green Building Council and National Energy Action.
During the run up to the weekend, Sunak made an announcement saying he will be ditching policies making it mandatory for landlords to improve properties’ energy efficiency capabilities but he will still encourage households to do the best they can.
He also announced a 50 per cent increase in the Boiler Upgrade Grant taking it up to £7,500 for households wishing to change their gas boilers to heat pumps or other lower carbon alternatives. The ban on installing LPG and oil boilers, new coal heating and for off-grid homes will now start from 2036, instead of phasing them out from 2026.
Sunak also announced he will be setting an exemption to the planned phasing out of fossil fuel boilers, including gas, from 2035, which will help an estimated 20 per cent of households who will find it near financially impossible to switch to heat pumps or other low carbon alternatives; as in many cases this will include off-grid gas homes facing highly expensive retrofitting costs or a very large electricity connection.
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