Contribution
To address those points: the warm homes agency, which is part of the plan, is there to provide advice and guidance to consumers from the start to the end of the retrofit journey. That is about increasing the level of advice and guidance available. I understand that retrofitting a home is challenging and that people need advice and guidance to do it effectively, as the hon. Lady noted.
As for oversight, there has been a problem in the past, as we saw with the number of issues around the ECO4 programme. The warm homes plan states clearly that we will consult on the protection available to consumers through the course of this year. As the Minister responsible, I never want to see an issue like ECO4 again. We need to make it as easy as possible. We should ensure that problems do not occur in the first instance, but when they do there must be proper adequate redress, so that there is confidence in the system. We cannot expect people to make these changes without confidence in the system.
The warm homes plan will roll out upgrades to up to 5 million homes by 2030, saving households hundreds of pounds on energy bills and helping lift up to 1 million families out of fuel poverty by 2030. We are providing £5 billion of targeted support for low-income households, which will receive free upgrades, including heat pumps, solar panels and batteries. That includes additional funding for the very successful warm homes local grant, and the warm homes social housing fund for local authorities and social landlords to upgrade homes for those on low incomes and in social housing. Those upgrades can provide a significant saving for a typical household of £550 a year on their bills. Alongside that, we have allocated £5 billion to a new warm homes fund, almost £2 billion of which will go to the provision of low or zero-interest loans. That will make it easier for more people to meet the up-front costs of upgrading their homes in order to benefit from lower bills.
About 30% of private rented sector tenants live in fuel poverty. We are introducing new minimum energy efficiency standards for the private rented sector and the social rented sector, which will save renters hundreds of pounds a year and ensure that they have decent, warm homes. I am confident that the landmark plan that we have announced will make people across Britain better off, secure our energy independence and do right by future generations by tackling the climate crisis.
One of the effects of the affordability crisis has been to increase consumer debt, which remains at a record level. Reducing debt not only helps those in debt but cuts the cost of managing debt for all consumers. I recognise the need to tackle that problem, and I have been working closely with Ofgem to do that. In November, Ofgem published an updated debt strategy that set out its near-term actions and priorities in supporting suppliers to reduce debt in the sector. It includes proposals for a debt relief scheme to tackle the debt that some consumers built up during the energy crisis; that could reduce aggregate debt.
I commend my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) for arranging the coffee morning and the energy support event. I believe that many Members are doing similar things; they have received a lot of support from energy suppliers and other organisations. She said that she has had conversations with Checkatrade and with people in the building trade. I said a moment ago that we are ensuring high levels of consumer protection to protect not just consumers but those in the building trade. Whenever I meet them, they ask for reliable regulation and standards that they can adhere to. The vast majority of builders, who are maintaining a high standard, do not want their reputation trashed by people who are not meeting those high standards.
The energy system is changing. We have more clean power and innovative tariffs, such as time of use tariffs, and the use of technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles has grown. That means that we need solutions fit for 2030 and beyond. Ofgem is currently conducting a cost allocation and recovery review to look at how costs on energy bills can be recovered in the future, and it is considering factors such as efficiency, fairness, meeting our net zero commitments, ensuring growth, and how we pay for our energy system. I am keen that that ensures that progressivity is at the heart of the way people pay for their energy.
The hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam spoke about a social tariff, which I know a lot of hon. Members would welcome, but I am always thoughtful about how we make sure that is properly targeted. For that, we need reliable data. We have just launched a kick-starter project with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, which is about accurately finding reliable household income data and properly targeting energy interventions—I would be happy to discuss that in more detail with the hon. Gentleman. It is vital to ensuring that energy costs and bills reflect the changing market.
We are bringing energy bills down for everyone with the actions that we will be taking in April, and we will continue to search for other ways to do so. We are lowering bills through the delivery of the Budget’s bill reduction measures. We have expanded the warm home discount, and are delivering the record-breaking warm homes plan. We are working with Ofgem to future-proof how costs are managed, and are taking action to fund a cleaner, more secure energy system. We will achieve bill savings while taking back control with home-grown clean power. That is the route to cheaper energy in the long run. Every wind turbine that we turn on and every piece of new technology that we adopt helps us reduce our reliance on fossil fuels, including gas, and ensures that we get costs down in the long run. That is the only way to protect the British people and bring down bills for good. That is what the Government’s clean energy mission is all about.
Question put and agreed to.