Our evidence has been published by the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, as part of their inquiry on Warm and Comfortable Homes.
The inquiry is investigating the UK’s plans for delivering warm, comfortable homes across the nation as the key route to addressing fuel poverty, lowering energy bills and meeting net zero and decarbonisation targets. They are also considering if the Warm Homes Agency being set up is resourced properly to get the UK’s national ambitions for warm, comfortable homes back on track.
We welcome the Warm Homes Plan and proposed Warm Homes Agency as important steps towards improving housing quality and addressing energy hardship. However, to effectively foster change, we propose the following key recommendations:
1. Prioritise households experiencing energy hardship through place-sensitive assessment of vulnerability and exclusion.
2. Create a clearly mandated Warm Homes Agency with responsibility for coordinating delivery across sectors and scales.
3. Develop an integrated, place-based advice system combining energy, retrofit and consumer support.
4. Invest in local advice services, workforce skills and retrofit supply chains.
5. Embed year-round thermal comfort in the Warm Homes Agency’s remit to address both winter warmth and summer overheating.
The evidence was written by PPERC member’s Dr Katherine Sugar, Professor Stefan Bouzarovski, Dr Hannah Charles, Dr Gethin Hopkin, Dr Giulia Mininni, Dr. jaise kuriakose, Professor Karen Lucas, Dr Subina Shrestha, Dr Lin Zhang, Dr Joanna Barrow, and Sara Tavakoli. Our submission was supported by Policy@Manchester, University of Manchester.
Find out more about the Energy Security and Net Zero Committee, inquiry on Warm and Comfortable Homes.
Read PPERCs response to the Warm and Comfortable Homes inquiry
