Improvements in Energy Efficiency

Part of Orders of the Day — Housing Bill – in the House of Commons at 5:51 pm on 8 November 2004.

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Photo of Keith Hill Keith Hill Minister of State (Housing and Planning), Office of the Deputy Prime Minister 5:51, 8 November 2004

My hon. Friend knows that I am a big fan, but I would like to be allowed to develop my argument a little before I yield to him.

That figure is based on detailed analysis carried out following publication of the White Paper and reflects changes in economic and technical assumptions that came to light as a result of further work undertaken by DEFRA. So the Government have not sought to pull the wool over people's eyes on this issue. Indeed, the beauty of the figure of 4.2 megatonnes is that, at about 19 per cent., it is very close to the 20 per cent. improvement that this amendment seeks. Achieving 4.2 million tonnes of savings is in fact roughly equivalent to doubling the historic 1990s rate of energy efficiency improvement.

My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has declared an energy efficiency aim of 3.5 megatonnes of savings in England, under the Sustainable Energy Act 2003, as a contribution to the UK target of 4.2 megatonnes. The Act enables us to keep our aims under review, and improve on them where we can. DEFRA will consult shortly on the climate change programme review and we will also review our energy efficiency aim in 2007, as well as setting the target for the next phase of the energy efficiency commitment beginning in 2008. In other words, this is a constantly developing scene.

Savings of 4.2 megatonnes of carbon are not to be sniffed at, and they are not the whole story. The difference of 0.8 megatonnes between the White Paper and action plan figures will be more than compensated for by an increase in projected savings from the business and public sector. We estimate that the measures set out in the action plan will achieve carbon savings of around 12 million tonnes per annum by 2010 across all sectors. That is 20 per cent. greater than the original White Paper figure of 10 million tonnes and by 2010 is expected to save households and businesses more than £3 billion a year on their energy bills.