Government announces new obligations on local authorities to deliver energy efficiency

Local authorities will be required to form partnerships with energy companies and develop district heating networks, while a new Warm Homes standard will be added to the Decent Homes standard as part of government plans to increase energy efficiency.

Warm Homes, Greener Homes, the government's new household energy management strategy published by the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) this week, will replace the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) when it expires at the end of 2012, and will introduce higher targets than its predecessor.

Local authorities will be given a new strategic role to “to lead, drive and co-ordinate local action” and energy companies will be required to work in partnership and consult with local authorities  to deliver area-based programmes as part of their new obligations from 2013 to to help householders
save energy.

The nature of partnership activity is not prescriptive, although the DECC is to produce a a range of partnership agreement templates. Local Authorities will also be encouraged – and, it is envisaged, ultimately obliged – to establish Local Carbon Frameworks which require councils to set carbon reduction targets their areas and develop delivery plans, involving partner organisations and energy companies to achieve these targets. The DECC said that it will look at introducing further freedoms and flexibilities to help local authorities deliver their plans.

Where Local Carbon Frameworks exist, energy companies will be legally required to agree their plans to improve domestic energy efficiency in the area with the local authority. In other areas, the requirement will be to consult with local authorities before acting.

District heating

The new strategy also encourages the development of district heating installations (or heat networks), in particular in blocks of flats, new build and social housing, and in commercial and public sector buildings and local authorities will be expected to develop plans to support the installation of district heating measures in the most economic and feasible communities by 2015. The government is provide more detail on the role of local authorities in driving deployment of district heating through a revised Planning Policy Statement on Climate Change shortly.

The DECC is also considering introducing a commitment that public sector properties connect to heat networks where one exists or is planned, where it is feasible and economic to do so, and where the planned heat source for the network is consistent with its short and long term climate change targets.

Warm Homes Standard for social housing

The strategy will introduce a new Warm Homes standard for people in social housing, to “complement” the Decent Homes standard.

The new standard will cover the building fabric (including standard insulation measures and harder fabric measures where they make sense) and heating systems, particularly with regard to connection to low carbon district heating or renewable heat.

The DECC said that it intends to develop the detailed standard during this year, and to work
with the Tenant Services Authority and the Homes and Communities Agency to ensure that landlords plan how they would achieve it by 2020 contingent on the necessary support and funding.

Funding for social housing insulation will primarily come from energy companies, which will have an obligation to save a fixed amount of carbon with significant penalties of up to 10% of global turnover for failing to do so. Social housing landlords will be given priority group treatment for funding until at least 2015.

The DECC will consult on many aspects of the new strategy during the course of this year.

The full document can be accessed here

http://www.decc.gov.uk/