Energy boss says strategy 'condemns thousands more to cold homes'

The CEO of Eon criticised Ministers for the lack of action on home energy efficiency, and said the plans offered “little” that “will deliver a solution this decade, let alone this year”.

The strategy is being published as western countries wrestle with high prices and how to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas, and in the face of calls to end the fossil fuel era to tackle dangerous climate change.

A fleet of new nuclear power plants is at the heart of the strategy, with Boris Johnson claiming “nuclear is coming home” and suggesting a new reactor will be built every year, in a social media video to promote the plan.

However, Ministers have already admitted that the plans will have little immediate impact on soaring household bills.

Michael Lewis, the CEO of Eon said this morning: “Energy efficiency is the fables ‘silver bullet’ for a future energy system: it cuts bills and carbon emissions today, it creates jobs and it reduces our reliance on foreign gas."

The statement shared by Shadow Energy Minister and Yorkshire MP Ed Miliband continued: “By abandoning any extra commitment to helping people improve their homes, today’s announcement condemns thousands more customers to living in cold and draughty homes, wasting energy and paying more than they need to for their heating.”

The chairman of the Commons Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee similarly said the strategy was a “missed opportunity” to help households struggling with their bills.

Labour MP Darren Jones said: “For families and businesses across the country energy security means being able to turn the heating or electricity on knowing you can afford to pay the bill.

“Ministers continue to ignore the reality faced by of millions of people with yet another missed opportunity to help bill payers and a failure to announce funding for the home insulation works required to reduce the amount of heating needed in the first place.

“Replacing gas power with more nuclear power is lower carbon, but nuclear isn’t renewable and it isn’t cheap.

Yesterday, a Yorkshire peer suggested that the Government could follow the lead of one local council and offer to help people make changes.

Speaking to The Yorkshire Post, Baroness Pinnock said: “The Government ought to be thinking about short term help for the huge rise in fuel bills – both for travel and for home heating.

“They need to think about short-term help for folk there but have a long-term view of how they can help households.”

She suggested that there are interventions that could “easily” be arranged and reflected on a scheme that “offered free loft insulation and free cavity wall insulation where that was possible to every household in Kirklees.

“Nearly 100,000 took up the offer,” she added.

“We did that 15 years ago so that could be done again across the country, why not?”