The Energy Security Bill proposes to provide arrangements for industrial carbon capture and storage; legislate on energy performance in properties; propose low-carbon heat schemes; make provision about smart energy appliances; and ensure environmental protection.
It’s pertinent that this bill is currently being debated in Parliament as the UK is living through a cost of living crisis where in 2022 over three million households were in fuel poverty, and the government estimates that this could rise to over eight million households in 2023. In Norfolk, there are around 9,000 homes which have no central heating, and in Great Yarmouth there are over 7,000 households in fuel poverty. Thus, the Energy Security Bill provides an exciting opportunity to reduce the cost of energy bills by setting realistic price caps and upgrading the energy efficiency of homes in Britain. This must be completed with the climate crisis in mind and the government’s target to be net zero by 2050.
So we’ve discussed what the bill proposes, but what is missing from it? Warm This Winter, an organisation lobbying MPs to pledge to keep their constituents warm in a cost effective and environmentally friendly way, state the bill is flawed in four key areas:
- It fails to safeguard poorer households from being coerced onto prepayment meters or having their energy supply disconnected.
- It does not increase energy efficiency standards for renters living in cold, damp homes.
- It does not give Ofgem a net zero remit to ensure that the grid infrastructure needed to connect new renewable energy to our homes is build at sufficient scale and speed.
- It fails to ensure that the costs of developing hydrogen for the wider economy are not lumped onto household energy bills.
Thankfully, there are alternatives and what better time to propose them than when the bill is still going through Parliament?! These are the amendments Norfolk MPs must include to combat the energy and climate crises.
- Introduce renewable energy to the grid, by giving Ofgem a net zero remit.
- Halt further energy price rises by eliminating the hydrogen levy from consumer bills.
- Ban the forced movement to pre-payment meters.
- Raise minimum energy efficiency standards of private rented sector homes to put an end to cold, damp houses for the most vulnerable.
- Ensure all renewable energy solutions are implemented in an environmentally conscious manner where biodiversity is protected.
You can find your MP and write to them to encourage them to back these amendments.
By Dilys Goodridge, 2023.