The government has narrowly met its target to fit energy efficiency measures in one million more homes over the five years to April 2020 despite a sharp drop in installations due to the coronavirus lockdown.
The latest statistics from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy show 1,003,500 households undertook at least one improvement over the period, either through the Energy Company Obligation (ECO) or under the Green Deal framework.
The coronavirus pandemic very nearly led to the target being missed. From roughly 25,000 measures in 12,000 households in March, installations plunged by more than half to around 10,500 measures in 3,700 homes in April and 12,000 measures in 4,500 homes in May.
However, the recent easing of restrictions allowed installations to rebound almost three-fold to around 27,000 measures in 11,400 homes in June.
Nevertheless, the second quarter numbers were still down by 26 per cent on the first three months of the year when 66,800 measures were installed.
Almost 2.8 million energy efficiency measures have been installed in more than 2.1 million homes since the ECO scheme began in 2013. Measures installed under the Green Deal framework over the same period bring the totals closer to 2.9 million measures in 2.2 million homes.
For its third phase, which began in October 2019, ECO has been targeted solely at vulnerable, low-income and fuel poor households.
In his summer budget statement last month, chancellor Rishi Sunak announced that the government would provide up to £2 billion of Green Home Grants to improve the energy efficiency of homes as a part of its efforts to stimulate the economy.
He said the vouchers, which will be available from the end of September and for most households will cover at least two thirds of the cost of eligible measures up to a value of £5,000, are expected to support improvements in around 600,000 homes. Poorer households will be able to receive up to £10,000 of upgrades completely free.