The
Green Party today accused the Coalition and Labour of “political
point-scoring” in the energy bill debate, arguing that meaningful
measures to address the problems of cold homes, fuel poverty,
and soaring bills are being sidelined.
In a new
briefing paper outlining its vision for a low-carbon, affordable
energy future, the party calls for a major nationwide programme to make
all homes energy efficient. If funded through ‘recycled’ carbon taxes
this could bring an estimated nine out of ten
homes out of fuel poverty, quadruple carbon savings, and create up to
200,000 jobs across the UK.
It
also argues for a transformation of the energy market to allow
community energy firms priority access to the Grid, and for greater
financial support for renewable energy companies.
The paper criticises the Coalition’s changes to the Energy Company Obligation, arguing
that “watering down efficiency commitments at
precisely the time they are most needed
Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, said:
It’s a scandal that the big energy companies are making large profits whilst many people are struggling with high bills and cold homes. Sadly, by focussing on headline grabbing schemes, both main parties are sidelining meaningful solutions to the energy bill crisis.The failure of both main parties to seriously get behind serious energy efficiency measures is a key reason that energy bills remain high.We need a nationwide programme to make all homes super-energy efficient – with full insulation, modern boilers, and renewable energy sources. By funding this through carbon tax revenues, the Government could bring nine out of ten homes out of fuel poverty, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
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