Poor house insulation to cost owners up to £600 this year

BRITAIN’S failure to deal with its millions of draughty homes means many householders face up to £600 extra in annual gas and electricity bills, say energy analysts.

Homes without loft and wall insulation, or without double glazing, typically with F ratings under the Government’s energy performance certificate, will fare the worst.

They face average extra payments of £340 for gas and another £260 for electricity, says a report from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU). It looked at the impact of poor insulation in the context of falling overall energy prices – which are coming down from the global hikes caused by Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

It found that the biggest beneficiaries of the declines were homes with good insulation. Those without benefited too but to a much lesser extent.

Jess Ralston, Energy Analyst at ECIU, said: “For millions living in cold, leaky homes, insulation is crucial for lower bills. It’s also important for energy independence as insulation is key to reducing our demand for gas. Unless we start to use less gas, we’ll just have to import more from abroad as the North Sea continues its inevitable natural decline.”

Around 6.1m British properties with cavity walls have no insulation; 29pc of the total. Some 8.5m homes with lofts (33pc) have less than 125mm of loft insulation and 7.7m homes with solid walls (91pc) do not have solid wall insulation.

Last year, ministers set up the £1bn Great British Insulation Scheme offering help for homes. The scheme is scheduled to run until March 2026 but will only help 300,000 households.

Ms Ralston said the next government should introduce a nationwide insulation programme. She said: “Government insulation schemes are not delivering at target levels and fixing them does not seem to be a priority, despite the bill and energy security benefits.

“The next Government, whatever colour it is, rapidly needs to increase deployment of energy efficiency measures if it wants to gain energy independence and lower bills.”

A Department for Energy Security and Net Zero spokesman said: “We have allocated £20bn for energy efficiency over this parliament and next, helping cut bills for those families who need it most.”