Housing Monthly Diary Archive

Heating & Energy Efficiency

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February 1998
Guidance for Private Landlords

British Gas and the national energy action charity NEA joined forces to combat poor standards of energy efficiency in private rented housing. The initiative followed recent evidence that private rented homes are over one-third less energy-efficient than average. A new guide from the NEA and British Gas highlighted the benefits to both landlords and tenants of simple energy-efficiency measures and explained the important role of landlords in achieving the 30% increase in energy-efficiency set by the Government under the Home Energy Conservation Act.

Copies of the guide - Warmer Homes for Tenants: A Guide to Energy-Efficiency Improvements for Private Landlords - were distributed by local authorities across the UK.

William Gillis, deputy director of NEA, said - for every £1 saved by tenants as a result of energy-saving improvements, landlords benefit by at least the same amount in reduced maintenance and repairs, rent arrears and time spent dealing with complaints.

For further information about the guide: Tel. 0171 352 6452 (NEA).

April 1998
Lottery Grant Funding for NEA

Newcastle-based energy charity NEA became the recipient of grant-funding from the National Lottery Charities Board, to set up energy-efficiency projects that target the households of Britain's 1.5 million single-parent families. The grant totalled £434,000, which was awarded over a three-year period. It would be used for a variety of objectives, including:

• The improvement of comfort levels in homes of lone parent families and the prevention of
  cold-related illness.

• Tackling the problem of fuel debt of lone parent households living in poverty.

• Increasing access to energy-efficiency advice and education among families with young
  children.

• Maximising the take-up of insulation grant aid among parents with young children.

The funds were divided equally among four similar projects. The projects in England, Wales and Northern Ireland are operated by NEA and in Scotland by Energy Action Scotland. Middlesbrough was chosen as the location for the English project area, where nearly 10% of the City's households are headed by single parents.

May 1998
Review of Fuel Policy

Energy-efficiency Minister, Angela Eagle, announced a review of policies on fuel poverty, specifically to help households forced to spend more than 20% of their income on heating, and the introduction of a national debate on fuel poverty as a factor of social exclusion.

Speaking at a conference organised by the National Right to Fuel Campaign, the Minister outlined the Government's intention to develop a national strategy to eradicate fuel poverty, which affects some 2.5 million households living in homes cold enough to increase the risk of ill health during colder periods - of which nearly half are estimated to include people of pensionable age. The review was to be based on prime causes of fuel poverty - insufficient income, inappropriate home size and the absence of effective energy-efficiency measures.

The Minister also announced that her department would be reviewing the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES), to incorporate recent recommendations made by the National Audit Office.

July 1998
Energy Ratings on New Homes

Proposals to make energy ratings on all new homes in England and Wales freely available to prospective buyers and tenants were set out in a DETR consultation paper.

Since 1 July 1995 it has been a requirement of Building Regulations to calculate an energy rating for all new dwellings. The method used is the Government's Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP), known as SAP ratings. These are an index of the annual costs that an average household would incur in a dwelling - that would providing for reasonable heating and domestic hot water consumption.

The current requirement was only that the SAP rating should be given to the local authority or an Approved Inspector, depending on who carried out the building control functions. This did not make the rating readily available for anybody who wanted information on the energy efficiency of a dwelling when deciding whether to buy or let it.

On 30 April 1998 Baroness Nicol introduced a Private Bill into the House of Lords which sought to address this shortcoming. It did not complete the Parliamentary procedure and, therefore, fell. However, the Government was supportive of the principles of the Bill and, at Lords Second Reading, offered to consult with a view to making amendments to the Building Regulations which would effect similar aims.

The consultation paper issued was the first step in that process. It set out proposals for amendments to the Building Regulations 1991 and the Building (Approved Inspectors, etc.) Regulations 1985, that would have the effect of requiring the SAP rating:

• to be displayed prominently in new dwellings for a period around the time of sale;

• to be given to any person acting as a selling or letting agent for the property; and

• to be given to a prospective purchaser together with any other written or oral particulars of the dwelling.

The proposals were endorsed by the Building Regulations Advisory Committee at its meeting on 2nd July 1998 and the subsequent public consultation was due to last for 3 months. Following a positive outcome of the consultation, amendment Regulations were due be prepared and were expected to come into force in the first half of 1999.

July 1998
Cheap Fuel Consortium

City Energy Alliance came into being - a consortium of Newcastle MDC, North British HA and Home HA - with the objective of negotiating lower fuel costs for up to 75,000 households in Newcastle. The consortium's aims to buy energy in bulk from Northern Electric & Gas benefit council and association tenants who choose to have both gas and electricity from that company.

August 1998
Study to Link Energy-Efficiency and Fuel Debt

British Gas announced plans to fund research by national energy charity NEA, which would examine how poor energy efficiency contributed to fuel debts among low-income consumers. The study would centre on households using gas prepayment meters. The results would determine how energy-saving improvements could help consumers avoid fuel debt by making it possible for them to heat their homes at a cost that they can afford.

This was the first study to consider the effects of housing conditions as a factor in the process leading to the installation of a prepayment meter as a means of collecting arrears. Each household participating in the study was to receive a full National Home Energy Rating audit, which would be used to identify the most cost-effective improvements and to produce a rating for the property - using the officially recognised Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP). SAP ratings for the sample household would be compared with national data averages for the UK housing stock, recorded in the English House Condition survey, to test for any correlation between gas debt and standards of energy-efficiency in housing. Variables such as house type, tenure and age of property would also be compared.

August 1998
News in Brief

• NEA produced two energy advice guides designed for non-English speakers. Multi-language translations of At Home with Energy and No Cost and Low-Cost Ways to Help You Save Energy and Money offer practical tips and advice on how to save energy and heat homes affordably for both the domestic consumer and advisers. For further information: NEA: Tel. 0191 261 5677.

• Discussions took place between Glasgow City Council and Scottish Power, which could see a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) providing central heating for 80,000 social housing homes at a total cost of £500 million. Progressing the initiative depended very much on the outcome of other issues, not least the decision to consider large-scale voluntary transfer of all of the councils' homes.

October 1998
New Deal Scheme Provides Warmth for Homes

An innovative Welfare-to-Work initiative was launched in Liverpool, with the aim of reducing fuel poverty, providing job training for unemployed young people, helping the environment and improving Liverpool city's housing stock.

The project, pioneered by national energy charity NEA, is to use £400,000 in funding from Liverpool City Council's capital receipts to make energy efficiency improvements to homes occupied by the city's poorest residents. An estimated 3,000 draughtproofing and insulation jobs are being carried out under the programme, providing more affordable warmth to pensioners, people with disabilities, single parents, those on benefit and those whose income lies just above the qualifying line for benefits.

As well as training Liverpool's young unemployed to insulate and to draughtproof the homes of low-income residents, the initiative also makes a number of other valuable contributions:

• Improving comfort and health for some of the most vulnerable households.

• Reducing emissions of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases.

• Increasing disposable income of the households as a result of reduced fuel bills.

• Assisting in meeting the Council's Home Energy Conservation Act targets.

• Reducing repair and maintenance expenditure on the improved properties.

The project is due to be staffed by surveyors and installer teams who, under the Environment Task Force option of the New Deal, are to train unemployed young people in insulation installation, surveying, administration and stock inventory. Each trainee is to take relevant National Vocational Qualifications and successful trainees could obtain permanent employment as the project grows.

April 1999
News in Brief

• The new edition of The Government’s Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) for Energy Rating of Dwelling - 1998 was released, providing a new method for calculating SAP ratings from 1st July 1999. The SAP gives an indication of the energy efficiency of a dwelling. For further details - BRE: Tel. 01923 664258.

• The Northern Ireland Housing Executive launches Heatsmart - a new free and independent heating advice service for its tenants. A home visiting service is provided, offering help with - fuel choice, operating a heating system and energy efficiency.

June 1999
Fuel Poverty Research

The national energy charity NEA received £415,000 from the National Lottery Charities Board to fund a project, studying the impact of fuel poverty on Britain's most vulnerable citizens. The three-year research programme involves 600 low-income households and examines the effects of fuel poverty on health and well-being. The study gives the most comprehensive and up-to-date picture of fuel poverty in Britain since pioneering research of the 1970s first identified the problem as one of the Country's major social ills.

It is known that fuel poverty affects some 8 million households in the United Kingdom and it is estimated that the cost to the National Health Service is around £1 billion of avoidable medical costs each year, although the actual cost may be much higher if other factors are considered. The NEA study examines the actual, as opposed to potential, benefits of energy efficiency improvements on poor households' health and well-being. The findings are expected to influence future programmes designed to help the fuel-poor.

The research also assesses:

• the potential social costs of fuel poverty;

• the extent and social distribution of under-heating in poor and nearly poor households;

• the effectiveness of different levels of energy efficiency improvement;

• the contribution of individualised energy advice to lifting households out of fuel poverty; and methods of targeting help towards those in greatest need.

June 1999
New Scheme to Cut Scottish Fuel Poverty

Scottish Office Housing Minister, Calum MacDonald, launched the new Warm Deal scheme, which will help pensioners and low-income families in Scotland to cut existing fuel bills and tackle cold and dampness. The £12 million allocated to the scheme is double the budget of its predecessor - the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES), and it will assist 25,000 households suffering from cold and dampness, as well as sustaining 400 New Deal jobs in the home insulation sector.

Pensioners and low-income householders will benefit from a maximum grant of £500 to insulate the most vulnerable areas of their homes. Householders will also be offered energy-efficient light bulbs and advice on energy use and conservation. It is estimated that these measures could save a householder of an average 3-bedroom semi-detached house around £200 in fuel bills each year and it will begin to tackle the curse of fuel poverty across Scotland.

When the new scheme is introduced, the criteria for eligibility will be the same as for the current HEES, but there will be new arrangements to provide more assistance for pensioner households in receipt of income-related benefit and low-income households in the private sector. There will also be provision for repeat visits, so that households which have already had HEES works carried out will be able to benefit from more works under the Warm Deal.

The Warm Deal will be administered by the Energy Action Grant Agency Limited (EAGA). From 1st July, housing matters are being devolved to the Scottish Parliament and ministers from the Scottish Executive are responsible for decisions on the Warm Deal from that date.

July 1999
NEA Update

A new energy advisors' training course is available from the national energy charity NEA, which shows how consumers, especially those on low incomes, can reap the benefit of recent changes in the new domestic gas and electricity markets.

The course - Be a Better Energy Advisor - integrates the latest developments in energy efficiency with practical heating advice and recent development in the energy supply markets. As well as training advisors on how to deal with fuel debt, the course looks at:

• Proposed changes to the Home Energy Efficiency Scheme, which offers grants for energy-saving improvements to households on low incomes.

• Purchasing gas and electricity in a competitive market.

• Solving condensation problems.

Trainers from NEA conduct the course, which can be tailored to requirements and delivered in-house or at training centres across the country. For further details, contact Denise Howell at NEA - Tel: 0191 261 5677.

A new report from NEA concludes that local authorities cannot tackle fuel poverty through a single department or agency. Instead, it argues that councils must enlist health and social services, community and voluntary groups and the private sector in the fight to achieve affordable warmth for their communities' poorest residents.

The report - Strategies for Warmth - outlines successful affordable warmth strategies developed, with support from NEA, by seven local authorities - most with high levels of unemployment and households on benefits. Copies of the report are available from NEA - Tel: 0191 261 5677.

July 1999
NIHE Secures Energy Funding

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive made a successful bid for £250,000 from the Energy Saving Trust's Home Energy Conservation Action Fund, to spend on energy-efficiency measures throughout Northern Ireland.

The No Age to Golden Age programme, which was formerly restricted to the Belfast City Council area, receives £100,000 of the funding to make the programme accessible to other areas throughout Northern Ireland. The scheme is designed to help families with new babies and the elderly save money in their homes, by providing free individual advice and help with a range of practical measures.

The remaining £150,000 is to help launch the Private Landlords' Heating Programme, which will enable landlords to improve the energy-efficiency of their stock, by raising standards of heating systems and introducing various energy-efficiency measures.

August 1999
News in Brief

• NEA and British Gas launched a new national awards scheme to promote and recognise innovative solutions to fuel poverty. The Partnerships for Warmth awards highlight partnerships that have successfully alleviated fuel poverty by promoting energy efficiency. They are open to eligible partnerships between local authorities, health professionals, voluntary and statutory agencies and the business community throughout the country. Winners receive a prize of a vehicle or office equipment to the value of £15,000 and there will be three finalist prizes of £2,000 each. Further information - Tel: 0191 261 5677.

• The Energy Saving Trust awarded funding to five new initiatives which provide energy services for social housing tenants and owner-occupiers. The schemes include three new energy service companies in Sandwell, the Black Country and Manchester:

Energy efficiency measures using bulk discount schemes targeted at the fuel-poor sector in all tenures will be introduced by both Sandwell and Wolverhampton Councils.

 

The Black Country Housing and Community Services Group, which includes Dudley Council and five local RSLs, aims to encourage the installation of energy efficiency equipment.

 

Manchester CC’s scheme will develop a combined heat and power-based community heating system serving 2,600 homes.

The Trust is also launching an energy services support service, which aims to help social housing providers in developing energy schemes. Further information - Tel: 01908 558209.

September 1999
New Energy Efficiency Scheme

The Government unveiled a new home energy efficiency programme to tackle fuel poverty and the misery of cold homes. The new programme was the result of a consultation programme announced last May, when the Government published its proposals for the New Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES) - a programme for warmer, healthier homes.

The New HEES is targeted at people who are most at risk from ill health caused by fuel poverty, being the elderly, families on low incomes, the disabled and the chronically sick. Fuel poverty is commonly defined as where a household needs to spend more than 10% of its income in order to maintain satisfactory heating.

The main elements of the new scheme are:

• A complete package of insulation and heating improvements, unlike the current single insulation measure approach.

• Extra help (including central heating systems) through new HEES Plus for those over-60s households in receipt of an income-related benefit.

Taking account of increased resources for social housing under the Capital Receipts Initiative, the level of spend on social sector properties is being limited. The programme focuses on the owner-occupied and private rented sectors, where the fuel poverty problem is greatest.

The new scheme has a number of specific changes to the existing arrangements, being:

• The maximum grant available under New HEES is increased from the originally proposed £700 to £1,000 for households using the most expensive heating (on-peak electric, paraffin and bottled gas).

• The maximum grant under New HEES Plus for over-60s households in receipt of an income- related benefit is increased from £1,800 to £2,000, so that high-efficiency heating system using the latest boiler technology can be provided where required.

• The insulation element of the package has been increased by including draught-proofing of doors and windows as standard, and by offering either loft or cavity wall insulation when providing central heating systems under New HEES Plus.

• Private sector tenants are safeguarded against the risk of rent rise following work. Landlords will have to agree, as part of the contract for work funded through New HEES, not to raise tenants' rents following such works.

For further information - Tel: 0171 890 3333.

September 1999
Energy Conservation in Brief

• A new campaign from the Energy Saving Trust aims to encourage social landlords to use combined heat and power systems. These involve highly fuel-efficient technology, which puts to use heat which would normally be wasted to the atmosphere. They can increase the overall efficiency of fuel utilisation to as much as 70%-90% and have the potential to save up to 40% on fuel bills. For further information - Tel: 0171 890 3333.

• A new report from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions presents the findings of a research project to monitor local authority responses to the targets set by the Homes Energy Conservation Act. Monitoring the Implementation of the Home Energy Conservation Act, DETR, £53. Tel: 01709 891318.

October 1999
News in Brief

• Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, launched the Government's new home energy efficiency scheme, which has been allocated £260 million over two years. The scheme is to be targeted at people most at risk from ill health, such as the elderly, disabled, chronically ill and low income families.
  
  
• Trade and Industry Secretary, Stephen Byers, announced a £30 million affordable warmth programme. The new programme is aimed at providing some one million homes with central heating by the year 2005.
  
  
• The Northern Ireland Housing Executive's contribution to Energy Efficiency Week included provision of free and independent advice to householders through its Energy Efficiency Advice Centres, which are located in Belfast, Londonderry and Enniskillen. In addition, energy advice exhibitions were being held in shopping centres across Northern Ireland. Other incentives available included cash-back allowances on central heating controls and a cavity wall insulation grant for people with disabilities. Just under £3 million is available through the Domestic Energy Efficiency Scheme to provide loft insulation and draught proofing to householders over 60 years of age, or on low incomes.

November 1999
News in Brief During

• Warm Homes Week (26th November to 6th December), organised by national energy charity NEA, more than 120 Members of Parliament and 25 members of the Scottish Parliament took part in the campaign - which is dedicated to increasing awareness of fuel poverty and the role energy efficiency can play in tackling it.
  
  During the week, NEA's national network of registered installers insulated, draught-proofed and delivered energy advice in some 10,000 homes. Over 3 million low-income households have already benefited from energy efficiency measures under HEES. For further details about HEES - telephone Freephone 0800 072 0140.
  
  
• A new £150,000 scheme pioneered by the Housing Executive - Northern Ireland's Home Energy Conservation Authority - was launched to financially assist private landlords improve the heating systems in their properties. The initiative involves a combination of a small amount of grant aid, bulk discounts and an interest-free loan. It is designed to help meet the cost of either installing full central heating or upgrading an existing system with fully- controlled oil or natural gas. The scheme will see the provision of heating systems in some 300 properties. Further details - Freephone 0800 181 667.

February 2000
Preferred Bidders for New HEES

The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions announced that Eaga Ltd and Eastern Energy are its preferred bidders to manage the New Home Energy Efficiency Scheme (HEES) - the Government's programme to tackle fuel poverty through better heating and insulation.

In the next two years alone, nearly half a million households will get warmer, healthier homes through New HEES. Home improvements funded by the scheme, such as central heating systems for low-income over-60s households, will cut households' costs of keeping warm by up to £1,000 per year. The successful New HEES scheme managers, subject to completion of contracts, begin identifying households from April 2000 and installations start in June 2000.

Under the out-going HEES scheme, grants to individual households begin at £315 and this will be increased under New HEES to a maximum of £2,000, depending on the household and type of property. The Government has also doubled the scheme's resources to £ 260 million for the first two years, which will help some 460,000 households. The scheme aims to target the owner-occupied and private rented sectors, which contain nearly 70% of households classified as fuel poor, because they have to spend more than 10% of their income in order to maintain adequate heat and light.

February 2000
Welsh Home Energy Efficiency Scheme

Assembly Housing Secretary Peter Law launched a major £15.3 million scheme aimed at improving living conditions and cutting high fuel costs in the homes of some of the most needy people in Wales over the next two years. The Home Energy Efficiency Scheme for Wales also includes £750,000 funding for basic crime prevention measures in the homes of pensioners at risk in high crime areas.

The scheme aims to tackle head-on the problems of fuel poverty, as well as improving the condition of Welsh housing, peoples’ health, the environment, crime prevention and (through links to the New Deal) the economy. It will run initially for a two-year period, commencing from 1st June 2000.

The new scheme follows an earlier programme, which operated UK-wide from 1991 to 2000, which provided energy efficiency benefits in over three million UK homes, saving each one an average of £45 per annum in fuel costs. The new scheme builds on the achievements of the earlier scheme by: concentrating on reaching people in the private rented and owner-occupied sectors; providing a broader and deeper range of energy efficiency measures, including heating systems; and giving priority to those households most at risk, recognising the link between fuel poverty and ill health.

The scheme will be open to those people who receive qualifying benefits and it will provide a wide range of energy efficiency measures, including: central heating systems, boiler replacement and water tank jackets; draught proofing, loft insulation and wall cavity insulation; energy efficient light bulbs; and general advice. In addition, for pensioners an element of the scheme will provide basic crime prevention measures, such as door and window locks, security chains, bolts, etc.

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