Leaky houses and reliance on international gas sources

The planned rise in the energy price cap will add around £600 a year to the average household energy bill.

The news broke last week, the day after the government unveiled its “race to the top” plan. As energy companies distribute their huge profits to shareholders, struggling families will be hit with a huge increase in their fuel bills. A few upgrades.

The government has seen this crisis unfold. His reported proposal to expand loans to energy companies is a short-term band-aid that does nothing to address the root causes of the problem: our dependence on international sources of gas rather than increasing sources of gas. public renewables – as well as some of the most leaky housing stock in Western Europe.

We are all paying the price for the short-sightedness of previous Conservative governments who stood idly by, slowing the essential transition away from fossil fuels and scrapping energy efficiency measures like insulation, which would reduce demand.

Gas prices aren’t going to drop anytime soon. We must leave fossil fuels in the ground and rapidly accelerate the transition to renewable energy. This will help us tackle the climate emergency AND make us less vulnerable to rising global prices. We also need to impose a windfall tax on the huge profits of energy companies and start treating energy as an essential public service rather than a money-making opportunity for big business.

More urgent than anything, we need a national home insulation program. Stroud District Council is fully committed to energy efficiency and carbon reduction, and has just received a £1.8m government grant for its ongoing program to insulate and install low carbon heating in houses belonging to the council. But we urgently need similar investments from government in our landlords and private tenants – a national program to give people warm homes, reduce energy consumption and create thousands of good green jobs across the country.

Chloe Turner

Stroud District Green Party

https://www.stroud.gov.uk/news-archive/council-homes-set-for-eco-boost-which-will-cut-fuel-bills-and-carbon-emissions