Response to the inquiry into faulty energy efficiency installations

Our work at National Energy Action is focused on the ethos that all homes should provide affordable heating and hot water, healthy living spaces, and improvements that make homes ready for a net zero future.  

Our path to net zero is strongly linked to efforts to reduce fuel poverty. We cannot reach net zero without changing how each fuel poor home uses energy. We firmly believe that the best, lasting way to alleviate fuel poverty is to insulate homes, a crucial element of our path to net zero. Unfortunately, many low-income families struggle to access suitable financial help to improve their homes and, when funding is available for retrofit works, the outcomes of that work on homes aren’t always optimal for the people living in them, as seen by the failures of ECO4 and GBIS.

As the UK’s leading fuel poverty charity, and through our Homes Directorate which focuses on improving energy efficiency and supporting fuel-poor households, we are uniquely positioned to demonstrate the impact of failed retrofit initiatives on vulnerable communities. This perspective enables us to identify the solutions needed to overcome barriers, advancing both net zero and fuel poverty reduction goals.

The evidence we provide in this response focuses on three main areas:

1. We evidence the failures in Fishwick, Preston which arose as part of the Community Energy Savings Programme in 2013, and our efforts in rectifying affected homes.
2. We evidence the learnings and impact of our community retrofit hubs, in fostering trust with vulnerable communities and delivering comprehensive in-person support.
3. We evidence the impact of retrofit failures in slowing down progress towards Net Zero 2050.