We recently mentioned about the £150 energy bonus for families and that little story certainly got you all talking!
In addition, there were rumours abounding that the Government would impose a windfall tax on energy companies to pay for immediate help for families to meet rising bills this winter.
But instead of getting extra cash to help us out, we will get energy saving tips instead…
Yep, 11 million homes are to be given help to reduce bills in the biggest state-backed programme to modernise household energy use for over 40 years.
Utility companies will fund most of an additional £1 billion for energy efficiency measures over the next three years.
About 4 million of Britain’s poorest households (those on benefits those aged over 70) will be eligible for free loft and cavity insulation. More affluent households, yet to be defined, will be able to claim discounts on household improvements designed to reduce energy consumption.
In addition to the proposed energy saving measures, Gordon Brown has pledged to increase cold weather payments from £8.50 to £25 per week.
The money (which will cost the Treasury £250 million a week if temperatures drop to 0C or below for seven days in a row), will come from government reserves.
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Tony Woodley, joint general secretary of Unite, made a pre-emptive attack on the expected energy-efficiency package, saying that the issue “can’t be addressed by ‘lagging the loft’, as some crackpot has suggested”.
He added: “Without help with fuel bills now, we’ll be lagging the coffins of the elderly if we have a cold winter.”
Joe Harris, general secretary of the National Pensioners Convention, said 2.4 million pensioner households were in fuel poverty (defined as spending more than 10% of their income on energy bills) and a million more were likely to join them by the end of the year saying:
"Energy efficiency schemes won't help them pay their bills this month and neither will they prevent over 20,000 pensioners dying from the cold this winter. Every time there is a 1% increase in energy bills, a further 40,000 older people fall into fuel poverty.
"It's time the government intervened to prevent the energy companies making profits at the expense of vulnerable pensioners, raised the winter fuel allowance to £500 and regulated social tariffs to give proper discounts to older customers."
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A plan to provide six million poorer families with fuel vouchers worth between £50 and £100 was scrapped after ministers failed to agree how it should be funded.
Nevertheless, ministers will claim that persuading energy companies to volunteer almost £800 million of extra funding vindicates their decision to pursue a negotiated settlement with Britain’s biggest utility providers.
The money will be raised by increasing by up to 30% contributions that the big six power companies are already required to invest in the carbon emissions reduction target programme. The existing three-year, £3 billion scheme obliges them to pay for measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation as well as low-energy lightbulbs.
Price increases from Britain’s big power companies this year mean that more of us face the threat of fuel poverty. The biggest beneficiaries of the energy measures are likely to be loft laggers, double-glazing installers and other home-insulation specialists.
Loft insulation is a good starting point. It prevents 15% of heat loss through the roof. A 270mm layer of insulation costs £500 to install but average savings are £155 a year. DIY insulation costs about £250, with payback after two years.
Insulating cavity walls can save one third of heat loss from your home and reduce your bills by 15% or £120 a year. Only homes built after about 1920, however, were constructed with two layers and a cavity.
So, now the Government has decided to help our increasing fuel bills, which is the best option?
Should we all be given more financial help towards our bills, even though this may be seen as a short term measure?
Or should we get discounts on household improvements designed to reduce energy consumption, which is more of long term measure?