Thursday 3 January 2013

Big Six suppliers tout home efficiency targets

Big Six suppliers tout home efficiency targets

Big Six suppliers are lining up to tout their achievements for meeting energy efficiency targets laid down by the Government.

They are obliged to payroll energy efficiency measures for the most vulnerable people or poorest communities in the UK and the deadline for hitting targets was New Year’s Eve.

Yesterday EDF Energy announced it should have met requirements under the Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) and the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), although Ofgem must approve this before it is official.

The company has installed a total of 900,000 insulation measures in homes across the country.

A typical household can save £310 per year on their bills by putting in loft and cavity wall insulation, according to EDF.

Martin Lawrence, Managing Director of Energy Sourcing and Customer Supply at EDF Energy said: “We’re proud to have helped hundreds of thousands of households up and down the country to lower their fuel bills, keep warm and cut their carbon emissions. By forming close partnerships with local councils and charities, we’ve ensured some of the country’s poorest communities have benefitted from this support.”

The CERT and CESP schemes will be replaced by the Energy Companies’ Obligation in 2013.

Last month, E.ON was the first supplier to proclaim it had hit targets before schedule, installing more than 880,000 insulation measures and provided ‘whole-house’ energy efficiency solutions to more than 14,000 social and privately-owned UK homes.

Hot on its heels in December was Scottish supplier SSE, announcing it was “confident it will meet its targets”.

However it warned the new scheme must get rid of complications suppliers came across with the previous targets.

Alistair Phillips-Davies, Deputy Chief Executive of SSE said: “We all recognise the urgent need to tackle fuel poverty, but the scheme risks becoming counter-productive if it puts disproportionate upward pressure on consumer bills. That is why we are calling for a cap on ECO costs as a backstop measure so that customers will not be at the mercy of potentially escalating costs.”

The supplier suggested making it easier to find the right people to help, boost demand for efficiency measures and avoid complicated scoring mechanisms which CESP used.

Written by

Bruna Pinhoni

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