Charity leader represents Citizens Advice at energy roundtable

The chief executive of a leading charity has called for quicker action on housing energy efficiency targets to bring down bills for people living in poorly insulated homes.

Carolyn Buller, Chief Executive Officer at Citizens Advice Hertsmere was invited to represent the Citizens Advice network at an energy roundtable last autumn. The event featured energy providers, think tanks and government ministers including Kerry McCarthy, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

Carolyn expressed concern at the speed of the rollout of new, green energy measures being implemented in private rented homes across the country.

As part of the government’s Plan for Change, all private landlords will be required to meet a higher standard of energy efficiency by 2030 – up to EPC C from the current level of EPC E.

It says the move could save private renters an average of £240 a year on their energy bills.

But Carolyn believes the targets could be met much quicker.

She said: “We have a lot of private landlords in this country. There are incentives for them to upgrade their homes – but the deadline for them to implement them is still five years away.

“We have clients struggling now because they are living in poorly insulated housing. People living in newbuild properties, which have all the modern-day energy efficiency features, are probably spending around 20% of their income on energy bills – but our clients in privately rented accommodation are spending up to 50-60% of their income on their bills.

“If we doubled the incentive, we could be hitting the target in two- or three-years’ time instead and easing people’s energy problems here and now.”

In the roundtable meeting, Carolyn also spoke about how a reintroduction of social energy tariffs could make a huge difference to the lives of people who are struggling with rising energy bills.

Carolyn added: “I think it went down well. It was really nice to be in a room full of people working towards the same goal of clean, affordable energy – but we see it from the other end.

“People are in a collective energy debt of around £3.8bn across the UK at the moment. It’s great that people are working towards change, but we just need it to happen much more quickly.

“I definitely think we got Kerry McCarthy’s ear, and I’m positive about what’s coming. The department is on the ball – but as always it will come down to finances.”

To find money and energy advice local to you, please click here.

To see what energy grants are available from the Trust, please click here.