How much could insulating Britain save the average home?

theguardian.com:

It’s two months until gas and electricity bills go up again, and five till the coldest part of the year. With some families unable to afford the cost of boiling potatoes, even people on middle incomes could struggle to pay the predicted £285 per month that a combined gas and electricity bill could cost from October. Last winter the average monthly bill was £106.*

Handing out money for gas bills – the government’s current policy – is a short-term solution, but with prices unlikely to come down in the next few years there are much better ways the government could use the money.

Cheaper than subsidising gas? Not using it at all. That’s where insulation comes in. We take a spin through the average British house to look at how heat leaks and how insulation can save money – and slash Britain’s carbon emissions.

In addition to putting pressure on family budgets, burning gas and oil to heat homes causes 16% of all UK greenhouse gas emissions, according to figures from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy.

Insulation would help with both of these problems.

But insulation projects have plummeted in the UK in the last 10 years.

David Cameron’s 2013-15 green deal policy to increase insulation had no money behind it.

The green homes grant scheme was introduced in 2020, but the administration — contracted out to a US consultancy, was “botched”, according to Juliet Phillips of climate thinktank E3G. So despite huge interest, hardly anyone has been able to get vouchers.

Cameron also scrapped more rigorous standards for insulation and energy efficiency in new homes due to come into force in 2016, meaning that at least 1.5m homes have been built to standards that are inadequate for the country’s 2035 goals and will