The vision:

• the intention is for every home where it is practical to have loft and cavity wall insulation by 2015;
• every home in Britain to have a smart meter and display to help them better manage their energy use;
• up to 7 million households to have had an eco-upgrade which would include advanced measures such as solid wall insulation or heat pumps alongside smart meters and more basic measures;

• people living in rented accommodation to enjoy higher levels of energy efficiency as landlords – private and social – take action to improve the fabric of properties;
• wider take up of district heating in urban areas, such as in blocks of flats, in new build and social housing, and in commercial and public sector buildings;
• a core of up to 65,000 people employed in the new industry of energy efficiency, and potentially several times more down supply chains. Jobs will include installing and manufacturing energy saving measures or providing home energy advice.

Elements of the strategy:

• New community partnerships and an enhanced role for local authorities, including from 2013, following CERT, a requirement on energy companies to consult with local authorities to deliver local area based programmes; and support for district heating. Where a local authority has a Local Carbon Framework covering household energy efficiency, companies will be obliged to agree with the local authority that their plans are in line with this framework before acting. Some local authorities may provide their own incentives, such as council tax rebates. The ambition in the longer term is that all authorities will take on responsibility for saving carbon from energy use in the homes in their area.
• Universal standards for the rented sector, including a new Warm Homes standard for social housing to supplement the Decent Homes standard and proposals for regulation of the rented sector. The government will consult on how to formulate regulation so that the installation of loft and cavity wall insulation where feasible would be a condition of renting out a property from a date in the future, at the earliest 2015.
• Invest to save, including replacing the existing CERT mechanism which expires at the end of 2012 with a new energy company obligation. It will have more specificity about target groups, including vulnerable households on low incomes, to whom energy companies will be expected to provide particular support. It will also be more transparent than CERT – energy companies will need to provide much greater clarity about how much they spend, on what and in which parts of the country to help the Regulator oversee the process and better understand the costs.
• Legislation to enable pay as you save financing that would provide people with eco-upgrades without upfront costs. The plan is to ensure that people can use a share of the money they save on bills, or the revenue from small scale renewables, to cover the cost of the eco-upgrade. Green Finance itself would come from the private sector, as banks and others provide funding for the eco-upgrade, secured against future savings on bills. The solution to these problems is to allow the cost of the upgrade to be attached to the home, not the homeowner. The government proposes to introduce new legislation to make this possible.
• Support for consumers, including plans for a universal advice service and new standards for installation. This will be supported by providing access to more tailored advice through Home Energy Advice packages which is expected to often be subsidised as part of the new energy company obligation.
• A new certification system that will include standards both for people who provide advice about what measures are suitable for a home and for installers themselves. There will be a new quality assurance mark, new accreditation frameworks for installers and new consumer protection schemes, building on existing schemes where possible.
• Grant funding and develop new national occupational standards, as well as a Skills Strategy for the household energy management sector with the Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes.

To read the press release click here: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/news/pn2010_037/pn2010_037.aspx

For more details and to download the Strategy click here: http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/consumers/saving_energy…