The report, commissioned by EBR and conducted by the Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE), revealed that the number of major insulation measures (cavity, loft, and solid wall insulation) installed fell from 1.65 million in 2012/3 to 661,000 in 2013/14.
EBR said this collapse was projected to continue over the next year, with only 507,000 measures likely to be installed.
The campaign group – which is an alliance of 180 charities, businesses, and unions – stated this crash was caused by the government decision to axe the Warm Front scheme, the “abject failure” of the Green Deal, and the “poorly designed” Energy Company Obligation (Eco).
Ed Matthew, director of EBR, said: “The government’s energy efficiency policies are in free fall.
“As a result fuel poverty is getting worse and people are dying.
“The government must make home energy efficiency an infrastructure investment priority to put the funding in place to end this scandal once and for all.”
Shadow energy secretary Caroline Flint added: “This terrible reduction in insulation measures could not have come at a worse time.
“Because of David Cameron’s failure to tackle energy bills people are desperate for help, but the government’s energy efficiency schemes clearly are not working.”
A spokesperson from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (Decc) said: “694,000 homes are now warmer and cheaper to run thanks to energy-saving measures installed under the Green Deal and Eco.
“But we’re not stopping there. We are increasing the scale of support through Eco, extending the scheme through to 2017.
“And our new Green Deal Home Improvement Fund, offering money back for making energy efficient home improvements, has already seen £16.5 million issued in the first three weeks.”