Contribution
My Lords, I welcome this Statement. Promised nearly two years ago as a “flagship response” to soaring energy bills and poor home efficiency, it has taken some time. Delays have consequences, particularly for the millions of families living in homes that are cold. They are paying the price.
That said, this plan brings forward welcome innovation and greater policy coherence, particularly through its focus on climate adaption and mitigation. It marks a significant milestone amid a national affordability crisis and an accelerating climate emergency. But if warm homes are one side of the equation, cheap, clean energy and market reforms are, indeed, the other. We need both to succeed.
The commitment to £15 billion of public investment is ambitious and right. Ministers forecast upgrades for 5 million homes and relief from fuel poverty for 1 million families by 2030. These are the benchmarks by which this plan will be judged. Too many families still live in cold and damp homes, causing ill health and rising health costs. Labour is right to call out the “lost decade” under the Conservatives, when investment collapsed and home upgrades fell by 90%. Greater vulnerability followed Russia’s invasion: 85% of our homes were still dependent on fossil fuels, and £40 billion in emergency support was required. This was the cost of the Conservatives’ delay.
Against this backdrop, the plan’s innovative pathway is welcome. Partnerships with British climate tech firms could, if implemented well, build a world-class retrofit industry, but SMEs need support, predictable regulation and open markets to bring products from design to real homes quickly. The proposed retrofit innovation panel and sherpa approval models are positive, if they deliver.
I am concerned about the six-month cliff edge gap between previous schemes winding down and new schemes starting. I ask the Minister for greater clarity, particularly on the use of the £1.5 billion reserve to help fill this gap.
I welcome the focus on climate adaption. Increasing heat will be a slow-motion killer, so homes must be built for cooling as well as warmth. Including air-to-air heat pumps and supporting communal ground source systems is vital. Passive measures are also needed. The plan’s emphasis on consumer-led energy flexibility is encouraging, with an ambition to triple solar by 2030. Integrating solar batteries, EVs and smart meters can turn homes into virtual power grid participants, cutting bills and easing pressures on the grid. However, this “rooftop revolution” will falter without faster grid connections, planning reform and more resources for local authorities.
The transition must create good jobs and uphold ethical standards. I supported the amendment from the noble Lord, Lord Alton, to the Great British Energy Bill on forced labour. Our clean energy revolution must not rest on exploitation. What measures are we undertaking with our EU partners and others to build our solar manufacturing capacity?
Despite the promising direction and other areas of overlap, this plan stands in isolation from Great British Energy and our community energy plans. This is a missed opportunity. We welcome the support for the UK heat pump industry but question whether £19 million will be enough. The dilution of deployment ambition is troubling—well below the 600,000 a year target by 2028. Even with a £7,500 grant, typical households still face a £5,000 shortfall, which will be too costly for many.
I reiterate the Liberal Democrats’ call for free heat pumps and insulation for low-income families. We welcome the innovation financing models but ask for greater details. Can the Minister assure the House that these will be properly regulated and transparent, and will not put people’s homes at risk?
The new rented sector standards, benefiting some 3 million over the next four years, are also welcome, but how will their effectiveness be measured? We welcome the warm homes agency as a single point of leadership. What more can be done to make sure that people are not the victims of energy scams? Can the Minister explain how the plan will be monitored and reviewed, and confirm some level of flexibility?
Too often in the past, insulation was missing or simply done badly. Government must work to restore confidence. It is essential that we do insulation and we do it well. Without insulation, the best technology cannot prevent heat loss.
Finally, I agree with the Opposition: we need energy market reform, and clean energy needs to be affordable. Electricity costs are too high; while they are that high, households will not change from fossil fuels, so we must balance levies and take them off bills.
To conclude, we welcome the ambition and the funding, but ambition must now be met with urgency, coherence and fairness. Ministers must close the funding gap, put insulation back at the heart, reform markets to make clean energy affordable, and back British workers and innovators. If Ministers rise to that challenge, this plan can deliver not just warmer homes but a fairer, cleaner and more secure future for Britain.