UK trade body Unison is calling on the government to roll out new measures to promote more energy-efficient homes across the country.
Unison has called on the government to implement a range of new home insulation policies to address the millions of residential properties up and down the UK that continue to struggle to meet their household bills.
The trade union body also highlighted the important impact that making the least energy-efficient homes across the UK would have on preserving precious natural gas supplies.
As a result, Unison is proposing a cost-neutral programme of mandatory home insulation and energy efficiency improvements for any property that presently does not meet at least rating C of the Energy Performance Certificate.
Low-income households would benefit from free insulation improvements up to a maximum installation cost of £10,000 under the Unison plan, but despite this expenditure, the government would be making savings in the long-term.
Unison general secretary Dave Prentis commented: “The UK is lagging behind the rest of Europe when it comes to the amount of energy that is wasted because of poorly insulated homes and the government’s inability to deal with increased energy prices.”
He argued that not only will a commitment to improving the efficiency of the UK’s least efficient homes help struggling households, the resulting reduction in North Sea natural gas usage could potentially increase the supply of this importance energy source by a further five years.
Moreover, figures from the Energy Saving Trust show that the typical detached home in the UK that currently does not feature the recommended levels of cavity wall insulation could make savings on its household bills of up to £250 a year. Furthermore, the use of recommended levels of loft insulation would also deliver annual savings of up to £250.
Both of these measures were also shown to have an average payback period of fewer than five years before the additional insulation is fully paid for through energy bill reductions.