Our friends at NEA (National Energy Action) have scoured the manifesto pledges of the main political Parties. Here, we’re sharing the energy pledges from the Top 3 English Parties:

Conservative Party

• Maintain the energy price cap
• Review and reform standing charges
• Increase efficiency in local markets for electricity
• Give households the choice of smart energy tariffs
• Invest £6 billion in energy efficiency over the next three years to make around a million homes warmer
• Fund an energy efficiency voucher scheme, open to every household in England, to support the installation of energy efficiency measures and solar panels, helping families lower their bills

Labour Party

• Deliver a net zero electricity system by 2030
• Invest an extra £6.6 billion over the next parliament, doubling the existing planned government investment, to upgrade five million homes
• Establish the Warm House Plan to offer grants and low-interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low carbon heating to cut bills
• Ensure homes in the private rented sector meet minimum energy efficiency standards by 2030

Liberal Democrats

• Introduce a social tariff
• Bring in new private rented sector standards of EPC C by 2028
• Launch an emergency Home Energy Upgrade programme targeted at low income households
• Introduce a new subsidised Energy-Saving Home scheme with pilots to work out the most efficient combinations of support
• A one-off windfall tax
• Decouple electricity prices from the wholesale gas price
• Eliminate regional differences in domestic energy bills

What will happen after the election?

It’s currently unclear what the parliamentary timetable will be. NEA is expecting the parliamentary calendar will be rewritten to change the recess dates but it’s hard to predict when this will be.

There will be a King’s speech quite soon after the election to set out the legislative agenda. In the 2019 election the Queen’s speech happened a week later.

Party conferences in September will be crucial for setting the political agenda.

Most households in the UK are paying for their energy on a standard variable tariff, which is regulated by Ofgem’s Price Cap.

The “cap” is an upper-limit of how much our energy suppliers can charge us, per unit of energy we use (but the more we use, the more we pay). The Price Cap also determines the upper-limit of the daily standing charge our suppliers can charge us.

Ofgem currently announces any changes to the Price Cap 4 times per year, with the new prices taking effect on the 1st of January, April, July, and October.

Today’s (24th May) announcement confirms an expected drop, of around 7% in what we’ll be charged for each unit of energy we use from the 1st of July, to the 30th of September.

Source: Ofgem (https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/energy-price-cap)

Unfortunately, this gain is likely to be very short-lived, as Cornwall Insight (the leading industry analysts, and the company Martin Lewis uses for the predictions made by the Money Saving Expert website) is predicting a 12% rise when Ofgem announces the Price Cap for October-December. Realistically, we’re likely to be several years away from any chance of prices returning to pre-pandemic levels.

It is therefore vital that anybody struggling with the current cost of fuel notifies their energy supplier immediately, so any provisions available can be put in place.

Anybody in unaffordable arrears should seek advice as quickly as possible, preferably from an FCA accredited debt advisor, who can offer advice and support around all household debts.

To learn more about reducing bills by reducing energy usage at home, and maximising any grants available to increase your home’s energy efficiency, our Save Energy Advice Line is available 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday (aside from Bank Holidays, and the days between Christmas and New Year). Call free on 0800 043 0151, or email advice@epplus.org. 

Investing in remedial work to fix the worst quality homes in England could deliver savings of more than £1.5bn per year for NHS and social care budgets, new research has found.

Research from the Centre for Ageing Better has indicated that unsafe homes headed by someone aged over 55 are costing the NHS £595m in treatment costs for injuries or illness linked to poor-quality housing.

According to the Building Research Establishment’s research on behalf of the charity, the most common category one hazard for older people’s homes is excess cold.

Older, larger homes with solid brick walls, can be particularly costly to warm sufficiently to keep residents feeling well during winter.

Category one hazards are those that pose the most severe risk to the health and safety of occupants and include structural deficiencies such as collapsing roofs and environmental concerns, such as damp and mould. Resolving excess cold in every home where the head is over 55 would result in savings to the NHS of £325m per year.

In addition, if hazards, damp and cold were eradicated from homes lived in by people aged 50 and over, it would save £1.1 billion in formal care costs per year by 2027 according to analysis by academics at the London School of Economics (LSE).

The savings from removing health hazards would increase over time, to £2.8bn a year by 2042.

The new LSE analysis also indicates the potential for a further £3.5 billion annual savings in unpaid care costs for older people if the nation’s poor-quality housing crisis was resolved.

Similarly, the cost savings in the level of unpaid care required would increase from £3.5bn a year in 2027 to £7.1bn a year by 2042.

Formal care costs refer to the expenses associated with adult social care services provided to individuals who require assistance with daily activities, such as eating, dressing, and shopping, while unpaid care refers to care provided by family members, neighbours or friends.

Current estimates from the Centre for Ageing Better indicate that eight million people are living in dangerous homes, 2.6 of whom are aged 55 and over.

Of the 3.7 million English homes classified as non-decent, over half of these are headed by someone over the age of 55.

The Centre for Ageing Better report urges the government to develop a national strategy to fix poor-quality homes of all tenure types across England, backed by “sufficient, long-term funding”.

Dr Carole Easton OBE, chief executive at the Centre for Ageing Better, said

“There is a terrible personal cost for older people who live in homes that are making them ill and which have the potential to seriously injure and even kill them. Older people are more likely to live in a dangerous, damp or cold home and are among the most vulnerable to the health impacts which can exacerbate conditions such as asthma and arthritis, as well as increasing the risk of an acute episode such as a stroke or heart attack.”

“But this country’s poor-quality housing crisis also reaps a terrible cost on our already stretched health and social care sectors. Fixing unsafe homes is a value-for-money solution that will not only help people to live healthier and longer lives, but will also reduce pressures on health and social care.”

In addition, she said “it beggars belief that home improvement is not higher up the political agenda”, concluding that improving the country’s health cannot be done without improving the quality of England’s homes.

Dr Nicola Brimblecombe, senior researcher at the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre and lead of the LSE research project (CAPE), said:

“Our study clearly shows how poor quality and unsuitable housing can increase people’s care needs and their ability to live independently, negatively affect wellbeing, and reduce choice.

“Improving housing has the potential to improve people’s quality of life, reduce health and care inequalities, and save money for government as well as having wider benefits to the environment and society. Negative effects of poor housing for social care can be long-term – action to improve poor quality housing cannot come soon enough.”

At a local level, Energy Projects Plus is delighted to be working in partnership with NHS Cheshire and Merseyside, on fuel poverty pilot schemes designed to identify patients suffering chronic health conditions likely to be exacerbated by cold homes, supporting them in reducing their energy bills, and assessing them for energy efficient home improvements that can ensure they keep warm and well through winter.

Since the inception of this vital Cost of Living Support fund from central government (beginning in 2020 as the “COVID Winter Grant Scheme”), all Local Authorities have received funding to deliver additional support to some residents.

We were pleased to hear the announcement in the Spring Budget, that the Chancellor had extended this fund through to 30 September 2024.

Through our partnerships with Halton, Sefton, and Wirral Councils, we will be delivering the following aspects of their Household Support Fund projects:

Halton

We can support low-income, residents who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and who do not use prepay meters. We will assess each case on its own merits, and where applications are successful, we will submit a payment directly to our client’s energy supplier, based on household composition.

Sefton

We can support low-income, residents who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and who do not use prepay meters. We will assess each case on its own merits, and where applications are successful, we will submit a payment directly to our client’s energy supplier, to the equivalent of 1 month’s worth of energy bill payments.

We can also support low-income, vulnerable residents with limited fuel debt relief.

Wirral

We can support low-income, residents who are struggling to pay their energy bills, and who do not use prepay meters. We will assess each case on its own merits, and where applications are successful, we will submit a request to Wirral Council for a payment to be issued directly to our client’s energy supplier, to the equivalent of 3 months’ worth of energy bill payments.

We can also support low-income, vulnerable residents with limited fuel debt relief.

We also deliver an emergency heating repair scheme for low-income, vulnerable Wirral residents. This can cover the costs of a Gas Safe Registered heating engineer visiting a property to repair a central heating system, or individual heaters, such as gas fires.

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To refer yourself to any of the above schemes, please either telephone our Save Energy Advice Line on 0800 043 0151, or email the team at advice@epplus.org, or complete our self-referral webform. Our service is open 9am-5pm, Monday-Friday, aside from Bank Holidays and the working days between Christmas and New Year.

To refer your clients/members/tenants to any of the above schemes, please use the referral forms available on our website, here: www.epplus.org.uk/referrals.

Since 1970, the 22nd of April each year is Earth Day. As an environmental charity, it offers us a chance to reflect on our actions that help to mitigate the impact of climate change, through the reduction of household carbon emissions across Cheshire & Merseyside.

In a typical year, we support approximately 9,000 households to reduce their energy bills by around £1m, with an associated reduction in carbon emissions of about 1,000tCO₂ (being lifetime tonnes of carbon dioxide).

Many people won’t necessarily realise it, but every time you save yourself £1 off your energy bills, by remembering to switch off a light, or not overfilling your kettle, you’re also helping reduce your carbon footprint.

Just some of the ways you can reduce your carbon footprint at home are:

• Switching to a 100% renewable energy electricity tariff
• Mains gas is unlikely to ever become fully renewable, so can you swap from gas cooking to electric?
• Similarly, might you be one of the households to take advantage of the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, to swap out a gas boiler with a Heat Pump?
• Consider your commute too – is walking/cycling/public transport a viable option to help you offset some petrol/diesel miles?
• Adopting smarter driving techniques for when you do need to drive, and/or considering an electric vehicle
• Checking your home’s Energy Performance Certificate to see what recommendations you might want to undertake
• If your Energy Performance Certificate recommends increasing your insulation, upgrading your heating system, or installing solar panels, might you be eligible for support through the Energy Company Obligation?

It’s always a good idea to check your current carbon footprint, to help you see where you might want to make changes, and also so you can measure the impact those changes make. There are many carbon footprint calculators available. Here’s one from WWF that lets you see how your diet, travel, home & leisure/lifestyle impact on your carbon footprint: https://footprint.wwf.org.uk/ 

The main theme for Earth Day 2024 is “Planet VS Plastics” – read all about it by clicking on the logo below

ScottishPower Energy Retail Ltd will pay £1.5 million in refunds and compensation after it charged customers above the price cap during the height of the energy crisis.

Ofgem agreed the redress package after the supplier confirmed that between 2015 and 2023, it mistakenly overcharged 1,699 direct debit customers a higher rate, which should only apply to those who pay by standard credit (on receipt of bill).

The average amount overcharged during this period was £149 per customer.

As a result, ScottishPower has paid a total of £250,000 in direct refunds to affected customers, plus another £250,000 in goodwill payments – equating to an average of £294 per customer. All payments were made automatically, and customers do not need to do anything.

ScottishPower has also agreed to pay £1 million to Ofgem’s Energy Industry Voluntary Redress Fund, which benefits charities and community projects that help vulnerable customers with energy-related support.

Dan Norton, Ofgem’s Deputy Director for Price Protection, said: 

“The last few years have been challenging enough for energy customers facing increasing cost of living pressures, without the additional hardship of being overcharged. The price cap is there to protect consumers, and we take seriously any breaches of the safeguards we have put in place. 

“Suppliers must be vigilant and act quickly to resolve billing errors that impact customers. We will continue to closely monitors all suppliers and will hold them to account if they do not meet the standards we set.”

ScottishPower reported itself to the regulator last summer, when it discovered that operational errors had led to direct debit customers being charged the standard credit tariff. 

This overcharge initially began in 2015 and continued across 11 price cap periods to June 2023 – a period when energy prices reached historically high levels, prompting the government to step in and provide additional support. In determining this redress package, Ofgem considered the additional strain and financial hardship that ScottishPower’s error may have caused customers during this time.

While the error is a serious matter, the regulator has taken into account that ScottishPower self-reported the issue and put in place steps to address the failings. Had Scottish Power not self-reported and resolved the issues in a timely manner, the redress package sought would have been considerably higher.

Djamila Serir is one of the Community Energy Advisors working on our Liverpool Affordable Warmth project

Energy Projects Plus delivers the Liverpool Affordable Warmth project, funded by British Gas Energy Trust.

Recognising the need to support people who don’t speak English as a first language, we started to work with Liverpool Arabic Centre to spread the message about energy advice further and support those who are struggling with energy issues.

We now run two sessions a month in partnership with the Arabic Centre – an energy awareness session focusing on damp, mould, condensation and providing some energy saving tips, and a pre-bookable drop-in session where people can benefit from specific advice about their individual situation. We’re also in the process of translating our energy advice materials into Arabic, to support our clients further.

Djamila Serir is one of the Community Energy Advisors working on the project. She speaks Arabic and met with one of the team from the Arabic Centre through referrals to the service before exploring potential partnership opportunities further.

Djamila said:

“Although I speak Arabic, I’ve never had to use the centre – I didn’t even know where it was. We worked together to support some people who were referred to us before we formalised the partnership properly. They support people in every aspect of their lives but told us they were seeing loads of people who had energy issues, so that’s where we were able to step in to provide that specialist support.
For some people, just the idea of people picking up the phone is a barrier, so when they get through and there’s an extra language barrier, it takes time and can be very frustrating. It can take an hour to get through in the first place, and many will eventually be able to translate but it can take extra time. By having a partnership like this, we’re able to support people there and then.

It’s not a one-off thing either, our support lasts. Every person I support, I probably speak to five, six, or seven times. For example, it may start with voucher support for a top up meter, but what happens when that voucher doesn’t work? We’re there to help them every step of the way. We’re building relationships and our support isn’t transactional.”

The charity recently supported a woman who had received an energy bill of more than £2,000. She realised it wasn’t right but didn’t know how to challenge it. With Djamila’s support, it was found that the meter had been read incorrectly and charges should only have been £75.

And on the back of this success, the charity is looking to expand is multi-lingual services further to support other communities in need.

Project Manager Lisa Boothroyd said:

“Within the last couple of years, certainly since the pandemic and with the cost-of-living crisis, we’re seeing a lot of people coming to us with issues around rising fuel and water debt. Utility providers are not being very accessible to speakers of other languages. Working with places like Liverpool Arabic Centre allows us to really break down those barriers. Building on this success, we’re now preparing to work with other organisations.”

The charity is also working with a wide range of likeminded organisations such as Raise, The Big Help Project, Everton Football Club, The Life Rooms, Cobalt Housing and Clubmoor Children’s Centre to widen the message around energy advice.

As ever, today’s announcements made by the Chancellor will take a while to digest, once further details are made available. But there are always some key soundbites listeners are keen to hear. Here are a couple of our favourite moments:

1. Household Support Fund

Originally knows as the “COVID Winter Grant Scheme” this fund has been around since 2020, providing Local Authorities with additional funding to help support vulnerable residents. A lot of the money has been provided to ensure children can access food, and to help elderly residents better afford to keep warm over the Winter. Energy Projects Plus has been working with multiple Local Authority partners to deliver some aspects of the Household Support Fund, such as:

• Emergency fuel vouchers for low-income prepay customers at risk of self-disconnection
• Payments to energy suppliers of non-prepay customers, struggling with their bills
• Reducing/clearing utility debts
• Repairing/replacing faulty heating systems

While energy bills are starting to fall, there hasn’t been as quick a drop as would be required to remove energy bill concerns from the minds of millions of residents around the country. We therefore welcome the 6 month extension of the Household Support Fund. 

2. Energy Production Windfall Tax

Many people are unaware that our energy suppliers have been struggling to survive these past few years, as the prices they have to pay for gas have often been higher than they’re legally allowed to sell it to us for.

This is why dozens of UK energy suppliers have collapsed since the prices started shooting up, at the end of 2019.

The “gas giants” like BP and Shell have seen massive rises in their profits, and we welcome the Chancellor’s decision to continue the windfall tax levied on these profits, for another year to 2029.

Thanks to funding from the Energy Redress Scheme, The National House Project has trained some of their young people to become qualified Energy Advisors, so they can provide energy advice to other young people, setting up home for the first time.

What do you wish you were taught about energy bills when you first set up home? Hopefully you’ll find the answer to that question, and more, during the podcasts they’ve recorded with support from National House Project’s Sam Ankers, and Dom from Energy Projects Plus (taking the hot-seat as a seasoned energy expert).