Constant upheaval of energy efficiency policies at a government level confuse customers and has left them with little confidence in incentive schemes, a select committee hearing has been told.
Joanne Wade, director at the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), gave the verdict at an Energy and Climate Change Select Committee session on energy efficiency in the home this morning as the government continues its inquiry into the efficiency policy framework.
Wade said that the frequency of policy changes had left the general public with “very little confidence” in energy efficiency programmes and that “consumers haven’t got a clue what’s going on”.
She concluded that in order for policies such as the ill-fated Green Deal and ECO to reach their potential, longer-term time scales were needed and that policies should not be chopped and changed every year.
Since the Conservative Party swept to a majority victory at the general election in May, no fewer than 10 clean energy support frameworks have been closed or proposed for amendment, prompting widespread concern over confidence in the sector.
Dave Princep, environmental health consultant at the Residential Landlords Association said it was “essential” for policies to enable long-term planning while Steve Cole, policy leader at the National Housing Federation, claimed that a lot of potential customers had walked away from installing efficiency measures over a lack of long-term certainty.
The evidence builds on criticism of the Green Deal also issued this morning which concluded that the scheme, which is one of those shelved by the Conservative government, was “far too ambitious” in its aims and “poorly implemented”.