By Sarah Macklin 
While we’ve been left without a prime minister for the last few weeks, the energy crisis has only worsened.
On the 26th August, Ofgem announced that the new energy price cap was £3,549 a year for an average household from October 2022. The announcement left many worried about the amount they would need to pay for their gas and electricity come autumn.
Even Ofgem warned that such prices would cause hardships this winter, leaving many to choose between buying food and heating their home. Ofgem urged the new prime minister to provide an urgent response to the crisis so that people aren’t in fuel poverty.
Today (5th September), it’s been announced that Liz Truss is the new prime minister. She defeated Rishi Sunak by around 21,000 votes, meaning she had a majority of 57%. On Tuesday 6th September, she will be appointed by the Queen, but will she act on the energy crisis?
She has said: “I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills but also dealing with the long term issues we have on energy supply.”
Prioritise the retrofitting of homes
The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) says that she must prioritise the need to retrofit homes to make them more energy efficient. This could include grants or big discounts on insulation, solar panels and more. When we don’t need to use as much energy to keep our homes warm, our energy bills will be reduced.
Grants may also be required to offer people money off their energy bills.
Brian Berry, Chief Executive of the FMB, said: “The UK is fronting an unprecedented energy crisis with over 12 million households facing fuel poverty. This dire and unsustainable situation requires immediate commitment to a long-term national retrofit plan to insulate our 29 million homes to cut energy consumption and reduce bills.”
Berry continued: “A national retrofit plan needs to be treated as an urgent infrastructure priority because of the benefits it can bring to both consumers and business. To succeed it must prioritise consumer information on what can be done to make existing homes better insulated; provide a range of financial incentives such as a VAT cut to help householders start retrofitting; and commit to work with the building industry to ensure there is a supply of competent, local installers to do the work.”
Berry continued: “Liz Truss has a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform our existing homes to help ensure everyone has a place they can afford to heat. A national retrofit strategy also offers the opportunity to create thousands of new jobs and deliver growth in every village, town, and city. The energy crisis needs a green revolution, but this requires bold leadership, so I’m looking to Liz Truss to deliver.”
Freeze energy bills
Freezing energy bills altogether is a further option, and one being considered in Whitehall to help struggling households. In fact, it’s said that Truss’ team has been working on plans relating to the energy crisis for a matter of weeks.
An announcement on what they plan to do is in for Thursday 8th September.
