Nearly £400 a year ‘could have been saved on bills during energy crisis’ with scrapped green policy

Households could have saved nearly £400 a year in bills during the energy crisis if the government had not scrapped a green policy on homes, according to new analysis.

Data from the Liberal Democrats, seen by The Independent, increased this figure from previous estimates to reflect the rising cost of living.

It found plans to make all new homes achieve net zero emissions would have shaved hundreds of pounds off household bills when another price cap increase will see them soar in spring.

“This is yet another example of how acting sooner on climate change can save consumers money on their bills,” Chris Venables, head of politics at the Green Alliance think tank, told The Independent.

The scrapped environmental rules would have prevented new houses from releasing a net amount of carbon into the atmosphere during day-to-day running. Among other factors, this would have been achieved through good energy efficiency – considered key to keeping bills, as well as emissions, down.

The Zero Carbon Homes policy was scrapped in 2015, the year before it was due to kick in.

A subsequent report estimated it would have saved recently built houses up to £200 a year on energy bills.

New research from the House of Commons library, requested by the Lib Dems, said this figure will rise to up to £370 when household bills increase with the new price cap in April.

Large family homes built after 2016 could have saved up to this amount under zero carbon homes rules, while the minimum savings were estimated at £265, according to the data.

Bills could have been up to £220 a year less in terraced homes and up to £140 less in flats, the research suggests.

Wera Hobhouse, the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for climate change and energy, said: “These figures lay bare the Conservatives’ failure in tackling the climate crisis and how their incompetence has worsened the cost of living crisis for so many people.”

She added: “Hundreds of pounds have been slapped onto people’s bills by the Conservatives because of their short-sighted decision to scrap energy efficiency standards.”

The Independent previously revealed around 800,000 new homes have been built to lower emission standards or without carbon offsets than otherwise have been mandated since.

Mr Venables said: “The sooner the UK insulates its leaky housing stock, the sooner millions of Brits will be protected from volatile global fossil fuel markets and be less reliant on gas from Putin’s Russia.”

Homes are estimated to account for around a fifth of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.

A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said it rejected the analysis, claiming it “misunderstands the zero carbon homes policy” and does not take into account other government action.

They said the policy involved carbon offsetting “rather than making homes zero carbon” and would have promided “limited benefits to consumers as it wouldn’t necessarily have increased the efficiency of their homes”. The spokesperson said the future homes standard, put forward for 2025, would deliver “genuinely zero carbon ready” homes.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Standards has been approached for comment.