Six out of 10 borough homes are wasting precious energy

MORE than 250,000 households in Leicestershire could be paying hundreds more than they need to for their gas and electric bills - due to living in energy inefficient homes.

In Hinckley and Bosworth, 30,867 homes suffer from energy inefficiency, or 60 per cent of households.

The Labour Party has pledged to lead a national mission to upgrade the energy efficiency of every home that needs it over the next decade.

This would mean every home that is currently rated below Energy Performance Certificate Band C would be eligible for a combination of grants and loans to help improve insulation.

Energy Performance Certificates, required when selling or renting out a home, give each house or flat a score out of 100 based on energy features such as building materials used, heating systems and insulation.

They are then placed in bands from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient).

Across Leicestershire, 268,829 were potentially in Bands D to G at the end of March last year. The figures are based on Office for National Statistics analysis that placed 61 per cent of the county’s homes in Band D or below.

The average estimated energy cost for a Band C property in England was £537 a year in 2020/21, which means it doesn’t include the recent price rises.

This is £287 less than the £824 Band D households paid on average. Those in Band G properties were paying as much as £2,328 a year.

Labour said making homes warmer by installing heating-saving measures to walls, lofts, and ceilings is one of the best ways to cut energy bills over the long term.

With the UK having some of the draughtiest, leakiest housing stock in Europe, it estimates a proper national scheme to improve energy efficiency could save the average household up to £400 off their annual energy bills. Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow secretary of state for climate change and net zero, said: “As families face the steepest rise in energy bills on record, it is shameful that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak are refusing to take the action needed to help them. “They have opposed our windfall tax on the oil and gas producers making record profits. Now they oppose delivering a proper home insulation plan that could cut bills for working people. “Twelve years of failure by the Conservatives to insulate our homes is one of the reasons bills are so high. “Too many working people and pensioners live in draughty, cold homes with high heating costs. If this government were serious about cutting energy bills, it could start now.

To address the immediate crisis, Labour would levy a one-off windfall tax on the oil and gas producers making bumper profits from these high prices to save households up to £600 on their energy bills.

The party has also set out a 10-year national plan to insulate 19 million homes.

A Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy spokesman defended the government’s record, saying: “We are investing more than £6.6 billion to decarbonise homes and buildings and bringing in higher minimum performance standards to ensure all homes meet EPC band C by 2035.

“At the same time we recognise the pressures people are facing with the cost of living which is why we have set out a £22 billion package of support and the energy price cap continues to insulate millions of customers from volatile global gas prices.”

The Labour Party has pledged to lead a mission to upgrade the energy efficiency of every home that needs it over the next decade