More than 60 organisations call on the Treasury to tackle eye-watering energy bills and cold damp homes by pledging more funding for the Warm Homes Plan.
The Rt Hon Darren Jones MP
Chief Secretary to the Treasury
HM Treasury
1 Horse Guards Rd
London
SW1A 2HQ
4th December 2024
Dear Mr Jones,
UK households are facing their fourth winter of eye-watering energy bills. Following the January price cap rise, households will be paying 65% more than they did at the start of the energy crisis.
As a result of these high prices, 8.8 million adults in the UK are living in cold damp homes and it is costing the NHS over £500 million every year.
We wholeheartedly support government action to ramp up homegrown renewable energy, which will provide long term price stability and energy security. But it will take time to deliver and people simply can’t wait that long.
Currently, our heat-leaking homes are damp, cold and expensive to heat. In fact, the UK has some of the worst insulated homes in Europe; for every one unit of heat a German home loses, the UK equivalent loses three. This means we are wasting a shocking amount of energy and money as heat escapes through our walls, roofs, floors and windows. The same people who suffer from damp, mouldy homes in winter are stifled in summer when the sun comes out.
The Government was elected on a promise to bring down energy bills by £300. The UK has no control over international gas prices, nor is it possible to predict where they will go in the course of this Parliament. The surest way to deliver on this pledge and reduce energy costs for consumers is to insulate homes.
We the undersigned are calling on this Government to affirm its election promise to cut our energy bills by providing at least £13.2 billion towards the Warm Homes Plan in the Comprehensive Spending Review. Starting with the worst affected homes first, this Plan will help to bring our substandard homes up to scratch. When coupled with reforms to the Future Homes Standard, it will ensure that all new homes meet minimum energy efficiency standards irrespective of when the work started.
Yours sincerely,
Warm This Winter
38 Degrees
Advice for Renters
Ashden Climate Solutions
Awel Amen Tawe
Campaign Collective
Cardiff Quakers
Centre for Sustainable Energy
Citizens UK
Climate and Community
Climate Cymru
Climate Shop
Clynfyw Care Farm
Datblygiadau Egni Gwledig
Egni Cooperative
Elis Glyn Jones
End Fuel Poverty Coalition
Faith for the Climate
FAN Community Alliance
Ffynnone Community Resilience
Friends of the Earth England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Generation Rent
Global Witness
Green Alliance
Green Christian
Greener Jobs Alliance
Groundwork UK
Gwyrddni
Hay Public Library
Here Now Films
High Peak Green New Deal
Hope for the Future
Impact on Urban Health
Lightning Reach
Medact
Miller Research
Mothers Rise Up
National Energy Action
Natural Weigh - Zero Waste Shop
One Home Climate Solutions
Operation Noah
Parents For Future Scotland
Parents for Future UK
Pontypridd Land Society
Positive Money
Poverty Alliance
Scottish Communities Climate Action Network (SCCAN)
South Dartmoor Community Energy
South Yorkshire Climate Alliance
Stop Climate Chaos Cymru
Stop Rosebank
Sustainable Wales
The Coproduction Network for Wales
The Mentor Ring
The One Planet Centre
Thinking Works, South London Energy Efficiency Partnership
Tir Natur
UK Health Alliance on Climate Change
Uplift
WWF-UK
XR Cardigan
Zoe Binning
