Eon is holding discussions with the government about extending the deadline for the first phase of the council-led prong of the £3 billion energy efficiency drive, its chief executive has revealed.
Michael Lewis was grilled about progress on the Local Authority Delivery (LAD) scheme, which his company is partnering on, when presenting evidence to the Environment Audit Committee’s inquiry into energy efficiency last week.
The £500 million LAD is part of the wider programme announced in the Chancellor of the Exchequer’s summer statement in July, the centrepiece of which is the £2 billion Green Homes Grant (GHG) voucher scheme.
The first £200 million tranche of improvements via the LAD, which councils can bid from to improve the energy efficiency of low-income households in their areas, is due to be delivered by the end of March next year with the remaining £300 million due to be spent in 2021/22.
However, Lewis, who is also chair of the Energy and Utilities Skills Partnership, told the committee that the right balance needs to be struck between getting on with installing energy efficiency measures now and ensuring the supply chain is trained to deliver.
He said: “We need more time, it is a very tight timescale to deliver all of that. While we are confident we can mobilise sufficiently trained engineers and technicians to do that over nine to ten months, four and a half months is very, very short.
“We are currently in discussion with the government about how we can modify the scheme to make them more efficient in terms of delivery in the short-term but not making it so difficult that we run out of time.
“We need more time, probably until the end of next year. That would be a big benefit for mobilising the supply chain.”
He said teething troubles with the government’s advice website for households interested in taking advantage of the GHG scheme need to be fixed, such as a glitch that means all queries about getting installation quotes from Eon are directed to the company’s headquarters in Coventry rather than a local office.
The government must also come forward with a follow up scheme for the GHG to give the energy efficiency supply chain confidence that it can rely on a long-term pipeline of work, Lewis said: “We need long-term perspective. Even if you believe the government is committed to zero carbon, there should be some scheme to follow the GHG and government should signal that now.”
He was backed by Jenny Holland, public affairs & policy specialist at the UK Green Building Council, who called for the government to use the upcoming autumn spending review to signal longer term support for energy efficiency beyond next March’s scheduled end of the GHG scheme.
She said: “It can’t just be a one off. This industry has been bedevilled by stop, start schemes and policies, therefore it has extreme reluctance to invest in taking on and training up installer lest we have a cliff edge in March 2021. Making it clear that the scheme morphs into a longer and wider energy efficiency scheme is vital.
“We need to see a commitment to some continuity because the industry has been really bruised by stop start.”
Holland was backed up by Sarah Kostense-Winterton, chair of Energy Efficiency Infrastructure Group, who said that the four and a half months until March is a “very short window” for installers to scale up training.
She said: “Business needs certainty longer term. There’s nothing on offer beyond 31 March. They (installers) want and are able to deliver but are reluctant until we see that.”