How do we retrofit UK homes for net zero?
Minister for energy consumers Miatta Fahnbulleh will make her first appearance at the Committee on Wednesday 4 December, in a one-off session on retrofitting our homes for Net Zero. The UK Government has recently announced changes to its home heating schemes and policy.
Meeting details
Five million warm homes plan
The new Government committed in its manifesto to upgrading five million homes over five years with the £6.6bn Warm Homes Plan. This is expected to include grants and low-interest loans, to support families to invest in insulation, low-carbon heating and home improvements. Alongside this, the Government has committed to boosting minimum energy efficiency standards for private rented homes and social housing.
More consumers struggle to afford energy bills
UK housing stock accounts for around 17% of national emissions and is among the least energy efficient in Europe. While good progress has been made to decarbonise electricity, natural gas still accounts for around 85% of fuel used for domestic heating and cooking.
Many UK consumers are also struggling to afford their heating bills: the percentage of households in England spending more than 10% of their income after housing costs on domestic energy rose to 36.4% in 2023, with bills set to rise again this winter.
The Committee is seeking the three panels’ views on:
- how will the public afford the switch to low carbon heating?
- does the Energy Performance Certificate help consumers to make informed decisions?
- how can we equip the workforce with the skills required to upgrade UK homes
- how should the home heating transition be coordinated at a national and local level
- what factors are contributing to the under-delivery of government retrofit schemes
Winter 2024 update: Heating our Homes
The ESNZ Committee before the General Election had taken a significant volume of evidence on the policy changes needed to deliver low carbon heating and energy efficient homes, in its Heating our Homes inquiry.