1. Landlords required to fund improvements to achieve MEES for domestic properties?

    August 2, 2016

    Sunday’s national press have leaked a suggestion that landlords will be required to fund improvements to achieve Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards (MEES) for domestic properties.

    From April 2016, The Energy Efficiency (Private Rented Property)(England and Wales) Regulations 2015 introduced minimum energy efficiency standards (MEES) in the residential and commercial private rented sector.

    The Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards dictate that a landlord with an EPC Rating below an E will be required to undertake work to improve the energy performance of their property; otherwise they could face heavy penalties. These new standards will be phased in over the next five years, moving from targeting new leases to targeting ALL residential and commercial leases.

    When Green Deal was mothballed last year it created a gap in the regulations as improvements were only mandatory if there was “no upfront costs” to the landlord. An article in Sunday’s Telegraph states that Government may well be on the verge of closing this loop hole by requiring landlords to fund the improvement at their own expense up to, the article suggests, a “hypothetical maximum of £5000”.

    Category: News

  2. Government must learn from ‘blinkered’ approach to energy efficiency

    August 2, 2016

    20 July 2016

    The Public Accounts Committee report says that failures highlighted by the design and implementation of household energy efficiency schemes put public money at risk and must not be repeated.

    Report conclusions and recommendation

    The Committee’s report concludes take up for the Government’s Green Deal loans scheme was “woefully low” because the scheme was not adequately tested.

    The forecast of demand for Green Deal loans was excessively optimistic, says the Committee, and “gave a completely misleading picture of the scheme’s prospects to Parliament and other stakeholders”.

    It raises concerns that while taxpayers provided £25 million—more than a third of the initial investment in the Green Deal Finance Company—to cover set-up and operational costs, the Department of Energy and Climate Change had no formal role in approving company expenditure or ensuring it achieved value for money.

    £240 million spent stimulating demand for loans

    The Committee also finds the Government lacks the information it needs to measure progress against the objectives of the complementary Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme, including its impact on fuel poverty.

    The Department implemented the Green Deal and ECO schemes in 2013 to improve household energy efficiency.

    It spent £240 million setting up and stimulating demand for loans under the Green Deal, which enabled households to take out loans to pay for efficiency measures which they would repay through their energy bill.

    ECO resembled previous energy efficiency schemes, with the Department requiring the largest energy suppliers to install measures that save a set level of carbon dioxide (CO2) or reduce bills by March 2017.

    Ensure policy decisions are “thoroughly tested and based on accurate evidence”

    While the primary aim was to save CO2, the Department also wanted the schemes to work together to improve ‘harder-to-treat’ properties; stimulate private investment in energy efficiency measures and mitigate the causes of fuel poverty.

    Among its recommendations to Government the Committee calls on the Department to ensure policy decisions are “thoroughly tested and based on accurate evidence”, including a robust evaluation of stakeholders’ views.

    The Department “should be prepared to pull back on plans if it is clear they are unlikely to be successful and risk taxpayers’ money”, says the Committee, and ensure forecasts laid before Parliament “are clear about the degree of certainty that applies to the numbers used and the likely outcome”.

    The Report adds: “The Department must not leave itself open to accusations of misleading Parliament to achieve its own ends.”

    Chair’s comments

    Meg Hillier MP, Chair of the PAC, said:

    “The Government rushed into the Green Deal without proper consideration of concerns about its weaknesses.

    Not enough work went into establishing the scheme’s appeal to households, nor to its implementation, nor to examining the experience of governments setting up similar schemes overseas.

    This blinkered approach resulted in a truly dismal take-up for Green Deal loans and a cost to taxpayers of £17,000 for every loan arranged. Savings in CO2 were minimal.

    Accountability to government of the Green Deal Loan Company—which spent public money on the expectation that it would need to support 3.5 million loans, compared to the 14,000 taken up—was institutionally weak.

    The Government is also unable to measure adequately the success of the Energy Company Obligation.

    There is no doubt householders and taxpayers in general have been ill-served by these schemes and the Government must learn from its mistakes to ensure they are not repeated in this or indeed any other policy areas.”

    Caroline Flint MP, a member of the Committee who led questioning during its inquiry, said:

    “It is clearly desirable to make homes more energy-efficient but the Green Deal in particular was not fit for purpose.

    It is deeply alarming that the expectations for take-up put forward by the Government should be so wide of the mark, especially given the serious concerns raised about the scheme’s design and implementation.

    This, together with its inability to properly evaluate the Energy Company Obligation, paints the picture of a Government hell-bent on implementing a policy regardless of whether it represented value for taxpayers’ money.”

    Report summary

    The Department of Energy and Climate Change (the Department) implemented the Green Deal in 2013 without adequately testing the design of the scheme with consumers.

    In practice, householders were not persuaded that energy efficiency measures were worth paying for through the Green Deal and take-up of loans was abysmal.

    The Department’s forecast that the Green Deal Finance Company would provide loans worth more than £1.1 billion by the end of 2015 was wildly optimistic—the actual figure was £50 million.

    £25 million written off by the Department

    The finance company has incurred large financial losses as a result of the low demand for green deal loans resulting in the Department writing off some £25 million of the amount it loaned to the company.

    While the complementary Energy Company Obligation scheme has led to energy efficiency improvements in over 1.4 million homes, the Department does not have the information it needs to measure progress against its objectives.

    In particular, it cannot tell what impact the schemes have had on reducing fuel poverty.

    Category: News

  3. Ministerial briefs announced at the new Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy

    August 1, 2016

    Several weeks on from the formation of Theresa May’s government, ministerial briefs at the new Department of Business, Energy and Industry (BEIS) have been officially confirmed.

    As had been widely expected Nick Hurd, MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner, has been confirmed as Minister of State for Climate Change and Industry, taking responsibility for climate change, including carbon budgets, climate science, international climate change efforts, and the green economy, including the Green Investment Bank. His industrial responsibilities also extend to advanced manufacturing, materials, and the automotive sector.

    The move is likely to be broadly welcomed by green groups, who have praised Hurd’s record as an advocate for ambitious action to tackle climate change. He is a supporter of the Conservative Environment Network thinktank and before entering government he served on the Environment Audit Select Committee and led work on climate change policy for the Conservative Party Quality of Life Policy Group, chaired by Lord Deben.

    He was also a member of the Globe International Parliamentary network for Climate Change and sponsored the Sustainable Communities Act as a Private Members Bill. He joined BEIS from the Department for International Development where he worked on a range of climate change issues, including improving access to clean energy in Africa.

    Writing on Twitter this morning, Hurd said the new role would seek to better integrate industrial and climate policy. “Time for climate change and industrial policy to be brought together more closely,” he said. “Look forward to working on it.”

    He added that the climate change brief was a “welcome opportunity to reconnect with the issue I chose to focus on when I entered Parliament”.

    Meanwhile, Conservative peer Baroness Lucy Neville-Rolfe has been confirmed as Minister of State for Energy and Intellectual Property, taking responsibility for nuclear, oil and gas, shale gas, low carbon generation, security of supply, electricity and gas wholesale markets and networks, energy efficiency and heat, fuel poverty, smart meters and smart systems, international energy, and energy security.

    A former senior executive at Tesco, Neville-Rolfe will also represent the department in the House of Lords, and take responsibility for intellectual property and EU single market issues.

    Neville-Rolfe’s appointment last month was similarly welcomed by green groups, who highlighted her record at Tesco leading much of the supermarket’s work to improve its environmental performance and response to climate change.

    Both Hurd and Neville-Rolfe will be supported by the department’s Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Industry and Energy, Jesse Norman, whose responsibilities include industrial and energy policy.

    Completing the ministerial roster at the department, Margot James has been confirmed as Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Small Business, Consumers and Corporate Responsibility. She will support Nick Hurd as Minister for Climate Change and Industry and her responsibilities include the retail sector, regulatory reform, corporate governance, labour markets, and consumer and competition issues, as well as the small business sector.

    The ministerial team will be led by Secretary of State Greg Clark and now faces a daunting in-tray as it continues work to deliver a new emission reduction plan for the UK, support Number 10’s review of the controversial Hinkley Point project, deliver the promised national smart meter roll out, and flesh out Theresa May’s vision for a new industrial strategy.

    Clark welcomed the confirmation of the new team. “I am thrilled to have been appointed to lead this new department charged with delivering a comprehensive industrial strategy, leading government’s relationship with business, furthering our world-class science base, delivering affordable, clean energy and tackling climate change,” he said in a statement. “I’m supported by a great ministerial team and we will work tirelessly to deliver on all of these areas, which are vital for the future success of our country.”

     

    Source: BusinessGreen

    Category: News