page_title: Housing in the United Kingdom
section_title: Government policies for improving home energy efficiency
hierarchical_section_title: Housing in the United Kingdom / Cost of home heating (energy efficiency) / Government policies for improving home energy efficiency
caption_attribution_description: English: Sample UK home performance rating energy efficiency label, horizontal (side-by-side) orientation. See also: thumb|Home energy performance rating charts
context_page_description: Housing in the United Kingdom represents the largest non-financial asset class in the UK; its overall net value passed the £5 trillion mark in 2014. About 30% of homes are owned outright by their occupants, and a further 40% are owner-occupied on a mortgage. About 18% are social housing of some kind, and the remaining 12% are privately rented.
  The UK ranks in the top half of EU countries with regard to rooms per person, amenities, and quality of housing. However, the cost of housing as a proportion of income is higher than average among EU countries, and the increasing cost of housing in the UK may constitute a housing crisis for some, especially for those in low income brackets or in high-cost areas such as London.
context_section_description: To encourage home insulation the governments introduced The Green Deal, the Energy Company Obligation, and Energy Performance Certificates(EPCs).
  The Green Deal does not offer any subsidies or grants for home insulation. Instead a new type of loan is provided which is attached to the property rather than the individual who takes out the loan. The purchaser of property becomes liable for the loan taken out to insulate the property. The Green Deal policy has met substantial criticism. In 2013, the Telegraph wrote that the high rate of interest charged for loans taken out under the Green Deal will mean there will be insignificant take-up, and hence the policy will be ineffective.
  The energy company obligation provides means-tested grants for home insulation. The funding for these grants does not come from government taxation. Instead there is legislation that allows the energy utilities to raise a levy on all utility bills to pay for the means-tested insulation grants. In 2015 these charges added about £112 to the average utility bill. If the utility fails to spend the money it raises from the levies in insulating the homes of those in fuel poverty, it is fined. There have been problems with the scheme; utilities have been paying fines rather than providing the insulation.
  The difficulties the utilities have had are in the low uptake of the grants. There is a particular problem in that most of the people in fuel poverty who are entitled to the grants are in the private rental sector. A tenant who applies for and gets a grant which improves his landlord's property has no security of tenure. The tenant will not benefit from reduced fuel bills, if the landlord puts up the rent, as the property has been improved. Understandably, tenants in fuel poverty have been reluctant to apply for the grants. The consequence of failure to take up grants is given as one of the reasons the UK is missing carbon reduction targets.
  The idea behind EPCs was that if those buying or renting a property are informed about its energy efficiency market forces will lead to better insulated dwellings. To improved the working  of the market by providing better informed purchasers, under UK law, whenever  a dwelling is built, sold, or rented an EPC is required.
  An EPC gives an indication of the energy efficiency of a dwelling. The certificates have been criticized as they are based on visual inspection of the property, and examination of documents,  and not on measurements of energy use, or the insulation characteristic of the building. It is not possible to calculate the cost of heating a dwelling from its EPC, or the amount of energy which can be saved by insulating a wall, roof or window. There are claims that EPCs are of no real value. It is held that a certificate which can be bought for just £34, produced as result of form filling exercise, can not possibility be as useful as a proper energy survey based on measurement.
  There have been improvements housing in insulation but this is mainly in the owner-occupier sector.  Between 2001 and 2013 the prevalence of cavity wall insulation of houses which have cavity walls rose from 39% to 68%. Over the same period the proportion of fully double-glazed dwellings rose from 51% to 80%. It has not proved possible to find evidence that these improvements were the result of government policy or would have happened anyway.
  If all the recommendations by energy performance certificates were implemented the notional carbon dioxide emissions from UK dwellings could be reduced by over 20%.
caption: UK Home Performance Rating Chart
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