Labour’s warm homes plan is all carrot and no stick for UK households

Grants, loans and ‘innovative finance’ will fund green technology, with insulation no longer the main objective

• No ban on gas boilers in UK warm homes plan but heat pumps get £2.7bn push

Attempts to insulate the UK’s draughty homes have failed time and again, with botched schemes over the past two decades leading to a massive drop in the number of insulation upgrades. With its long-awaited warm homes plan, the Labour government has a different strategy: to bypass insulation in favour of installing green technology such as solar panels and heat pumps.

About £5bn will be invested in home upgrades, including solar panels and batteries, in the form of grants to people on low incomes, as well as £2bn in consumer loans for people who can afford them, and £2.7bn in “innovative finance”, which could include schemes such as green mortgages, whereby householders get a lower interest rate if they invest in making their home more energy efficient.

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Source: www.theguardian.com

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