The Government’s English housing survey was released a few months ago. It gives a good overview of the energy efficiency of UK households over the last ten years – depressingly, not much has changed.
On the face of it, the news is good. The number of households with an EPC of A–C has increased from 16% to 47% – a significant jump. And there’s a corresponding fall in the number of E-G households from 35% to 10%; these are the very worst houses for energy efficiency in the UK. But the number of D-rated properties has fallen only slightly from 49% to 43%, and when you dig further into the detail the real picture emerges. The number of A and B-rated homes is minute – less than 5% – meaning that C and D-rated properties form the vast majority of England’s homes: more than 85%.
The facts behind the figures
So despite the headlines, the picture really is one of marginal improvements – nowhere near the systematic change we need to make in the energy efficiency of our homes if we hope to tackle fuel poverty or climate change. We know that only a few tens of thousands of homes are being retrofitted each year – far from the 1.5–2 million we should be improving to bring our housing stock up to a minimum of EPC C.
Our rule of thumb is that each EPC band costs the average householder about £250 a year extra on their fuel bill – no small sum in this cost of living crisis and one that tends to fall on those least able to afford it. 38% of privately rented properties have an EPC between E and G and, while this is improving, these inefficient homes are imposing disproportional cost on those who can least afford it. The good news however is that 69% of homes in the social rented sector have an EPC of A–C, largely as a result of Government and social housing investment – clearly demonstrating that when the Government and companies take energy efficiency seriously they can really make a difference.
Each EPC band costs the average householder about £250 a year extra on their fuel bill.
Limping towards net zero
Newly built homes are becoming more energy efficient with 81% built after 1990 receiving an EPC A–C, though that still leaves nearly 20% of new homes with an EPC of D or below. These are homes that will need retrofitting as soon as they are built in order to tackle fuel poverty and climate change – a crazy situation to be in.
The rest of the report describes how little other aspects of home energy efficiency have changed over the last 10 years, with most homes still heated with gas boilers with very little growth in the sort of low-carbon, low-energy systems we need to reach net zero. Fewer than 1% of homes have a heat pump.
Only around 22% of people had changed gas or electricity suppliers – an indication perhaps that during the survey period not many people were thinking deeply about their bills or energy efficiency. Of course this may well have changed since the survey results only extend to 2022, before the energy crisis.
A wake-up call
Overall, while the report provides helpful data for net zero planning and tackling fuel poverty, it paints a picture of very little change over the past decade. The small improvements in domestic energy efficiency are nowhere near the transformational scale we need if we are going to have a real impact on peoples’ lives and the health of our planet.
The report should be a wake-up and call to action for all of us to invest more in improving our home energy efficiency.
