The Labour Party repeatedly made the pledge during its General Election campaign last year
Labour has shed more light on its ambitious plan to slash energy bills by £300 annually by 2030. The party repeatedly touted this promise during its General Election campaign last year, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer has reaffirmed the commitment since taking office.
SNP MP Seamus Logan queried the Government in Parliament about from what level the Government plans to bring down energy bills £300 when the change is achieved. Energy minister Miatta Fahnbulleh responded, saying: “The Government believes that our mission to deliver clean power by 2030 is the best way to break our dependence on global fossil fuel markets and protect billpayers permanently.
“The creation of Great British Energy will help us to harness clean energy and have less reliance on volatile international energy markets and help in our commitment to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030. This, combined with our Warm Homes Plan to upgrade millions of homes to make them warmer and cheaper to run is how we will drive down energy bills and make cold homes a thing of the past.”
The Warm Homes Plan includes additional funding for the Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which offers grants to support the transition from fossil fuel heating systems to heat pumps or biomass boilers. Through this scheme, households can receive £7,500 towards an air source heat pump, £7,500 towards a ground source heat pump, or £5,000 towards a biomass boiler.
Government figures indicate that switching to a heat pump could save families about £100 annually on energy bills in contrast to using a gas boiler, while insulating a home could result in even greater savings of roughly £200 a year.
Ms Fahnbulleh further explained the Government’s strategy, saying: “We recognise that we need to support households struggling with bills whilst we transition to clean power by 2030. This is why we are delivering the Warm Home Discount to around 3 million eligible low-income households this winter.
“On February 25, we published a consultation on the expansion of the Warm Home Discount, giving more eligible households £150 off their energy bills. These proposals would bring around 2.7 million households into the scheme – pushing the total number of households that would receive the discount next winter up to around 6 million.
“The consultation has now closed and the Department is evaluating the responses.” The Warm Homes Discount offers a one-off £150 deduction from your electricity bill. Those who qualify include people on the Guarantee Credit portion of Pension Credit as well as those on a low income or who are receiving certain means-tested benefits.
Ministers are considering broadening the scope of the discount to include everyone on means-tested benefits. Most of the time, eligible suppliers will automatically deduct the discount from your bill — the funds aren’t transferred directly to you.
These suppliers are part of the scheme:
- 100Green (formerly Green Energy UK or GEUK)
- Affect Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Boost
- British Gas
- Bulb Energy – see Octopus Energy
- Co-op Energy – see Octopus Energy
- E – also known as E (Gas and Electricity)
- Ecotricity
- E.ON Next
- EDF
- Fuse Energy
- Good Energy
- Home Energy
- London Power
- Octopus Energy
- Outfox the Market
- OVO
- Rebel Energy
- Sainsbury’s Energy
- Scottish Gas – see British Gas
- ScottishPower
- Shell Energy Retail
- So Energy
- Tomato Energy
- TruEnergy
- Utilita
- Utility Warehouse.