Introduction
The Government consulted on proposals for the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP). The broad policy proposals for the design of the programme included:
- placing an obligation on energy suppliers and electricity generators to meet a CO2 reduction target by providing energy efficiency measures to domestic consumers;
- requiring that this obligation is met by providing these measures to households in areas with high levels of low incomes;
- to offer these measures as a package to homes, to deliver a ‘whole house approach’ – so that homes can receive all the major energy efficiency measures they need, which could also include district heating schemes;
- specifying that only certain measures are eligible to count towards the CO2 targets, focusing on those measures which can make a substantial difference to a household emissions and fuel bills.
Background
On September 11 2008 the Prime Minister announced a package of initiatives designed to help people to reduce their fuel bills whilst also ensuring that the most vulnerable receive help this winter. One element of this package was the Community Energy Saving Programme. It aims to deliver around £350m of energy efficiency packages. Reducing energy use also helps tackle climate change, and CESP will contribute to our ambition of an 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050.
The consultation ran for 3 months to 8 May 2009. A total of 183 responses were received which were broadly very positive. The Government's response to the consultation was published on 30 June 2009.
On 10 July 2009 we republished the Government’s response containing some textual changes to provide clarification on delivery of Home Energy Advice.
The final Statutory Instrument has now been published and is available on the Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI): Draft Statutory Instruments 2009 web page.
Further information can be found on the Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP) web page.
Additional documentation
In order to support stakeholders in developing responses to the consultation we produced a number of additional documents, which sought to expand upon or clarify some of the issues under discussion. These can be found below, with the consultation documents themselves at the bottom of the page.