Tuesday 28 January 2014

Government to let energy bills soar by cutting back on energy efficiency requirements

Hot on the heels of Government tax breaks for unsustainable fracked gas supplies and loan guarantees and 35 year contracts for nuclear power stations the Government is planning to scrap rules that allow local Councils to plan for energy efficient houses.

Moving under the cover of scrapping regulations on industry the Government, in flagrant breach of its claims to have low energy bills at the heart of its concern, is planning to scrap the 'Code for Sustainable Homes'. This was introduced by the Labour Government to allow 'bottom-up' action by local councils to require developers to build houses that will result in lower energy consumption by being more energy efficient. Not only will generations to come be saddled with the consequences of exhausting natural gas supplies, having to carry on paying until 2058 for Hinkley C (assuming it actually starts in 2023 as planned), but they will now be saddled with increased energy bills associated with living in homes that will require more energy as a result of the Government's policy.

Of course the Government does not like local people being given power to protect the planet. The Government's priorities, by contrast, are to give increased powers and increase regulations and incentives to allow multinational corporations to increase energy supplies.

You can see below a statement from last November by the Environmental Audit Committee on the Code for Sustainable Homes including a call to the Government not to scrap it, and you can see a report in yesterday's Business Green about the government's latest step in its campaign against green policies.

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/2325156/green-building-council-slams-camerons-poisonous-attack-on-green-regulations

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/environmental-audit-committee/news/code-for-sustainable-homes-report-published/

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