Select committee: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee
Recommendation 36
Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector
Published 28 Apr 2023
Paragraph 166
Addressed to Department for Business and Trade
Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee Decarbonisation of the power sector All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Energy efficiency is the quickest and most cost-effective way to reduce gas demand and lower household energy bills. If significant strides are not made to reduce demand, it will become increasingly challenging and expensive to decarbonise 106 Decarbonisation of the power sector the electricity system. We call on the Government to bring forward the £6 billion funding package for energy efficiency allocated for the period 2025 to 2028 to now. The Government should prioritise delivering a locally co-ordinated programme of energy efficiency and home retrofit. This should be paired with a communications campaign on the benefits of home improvements and fuel switching. We recommend that the Government uses new powers in the Energy Bill to urgently reform the flawed EPC rating system, so that it gives a more accurate reflection of overall energy use and emissions, as soon as the Bill is enacted.
From: Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee, Eleventh Report - Decarbonisation of the power sector (HC 283), paragraph 166, 28 April 2023
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 14 July 2023 (deadline 28 June 2023).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each recommendation, planning annual reporting on power sector decarbonisation while setting out where it will not adopt specific proposals.
- On the call for a long-term delivery plan, the government "plans to report on its delivery, and overall plan to deliver the commitment, on an annual basis", and is strengthening its portfolio management approach.
- On a UK-wide onshore wind target, it states that setting one "would potentially undermine the flexibility needed" across the UK.
- On biomass, it has "no plans to remove support prior to 2027" for stations already supported, saying they "have a statutory right to their existing support".
- On Ofgem's duties, it is "content to amend" Ofgem's existing duty on greenhouse gases to refer specifically to the net zero targets in the Climate Change Act 2008.