Government unveils £15bn Warm Homes Plan to cut energy bills

The government has announced a £15 billion ‘Warm Homes Plan’ to help millions of families benefit from solar panels and other green tech to lower their energy bills. It will provide this £15 billion to help families over the next 5 years in a bid to create a “rooftop revolution”, tripling the number of UK homes with solar.

The government claims it will upgrade 5 million homes, helping people save hundreds on energy bills and bringing nearly 1 million out of fuel poverty by 2030.

Labour will offer everyone government-backed, zero and low-interest loans to help people afford solar panels. Furthermore, they will introduce a rule requiring all new homes to be built with solar panels. In addition, they will enforce new efficiency standards for landlords, which could improve almost 3 million rental homes over the next four years.

There is also direct support for low-income families, with the government providing an additional £600 million to install solar and batteries at no cost to residents. This brings the total to £5 billion in public investment, with the average cost of both solar panels and a battery between £9,000 and £12,000.

The high energy costs in the UK have placed pressure on household finances, with even 15% of middle-income households struggling to heat their homes

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband claims it is a “scandal that millions of people in our country do not have the security of a home that is warm, affordable and safe.”

Among the 32 members of the International Energy Agency (IEA), an autonomous intergovernmental organisation including two dozen European countries, the UK has the second-most expensive energy, only behind Germany. The high energy costs in the UK have placed pressure on household finances, with even 15% of middle-income households struggling to heat their homes.

Miliband believes that the way to “bring down bills for good” is to make “Britain a clean energy superpower”.

Meanwhile, the deputy leader of Reform, Richard Tice, has criticised the plan, claiming it’s a “scandalous waste of up to £15bn of taxpayers’ cash”, with the majority of the green technology bought from China, hurting British industry. Most firms in the energy industry have welcomed the announcement, with Greg Jackson, Founder of Octopus Energy, calling it a “Really important step forward” and saying that “Electrifying homes is the best way to cut bills for good and escape the yo-yo of fossil fuel costs.”