In a letter to David Cameron coordinated by the UK Green Building Council, chief executives from a range of firms including E.ON, Carillion, Barratt Developments, Willmott Dixon and Keepmoat, are urging the Government not to scale back schemes such as the Energy Company Obligation (ECO).
The warning follows Mr Cameron’s statement in Parliament last week that “we need to roll back some of the green regulations and charges that are putting up bills.”
The letter argues that energy efficiency is the “only sure way” to protect households against rising bills in the long-term, and that rolling back ECO, which is designed to improve the energy efficiency of vulnerable and low income households and ‘hard to treat’ properties, would instead increase energy bills for these consumers and have “severe consequences” for jobs in the sector.
The leaders also urge Mr Cameron to consider using additional incentives such as Stamp Duty to encourage uptake of the Green Deal, which could help reduce the cost of ECO.
Paul King, chief executive of the UK Green Building Council, said: “Business leaders are sending a powerful message to David Cameron – do not scrap the Energy Company Obligation. Cutting back schemes designed to boost energy efficiency is an incredibly short-sighted view and one that will only result in higher bills in the medium to long-term for those most vulnerable from rocketing energy prices.
“Energy efficiency is the only guaranteed way to combat rising energy bills and it defies belief that the Prime Minister is considering ‘rolling back’ one of the Government’s biggest initiatives to achieve this.”