NHS England Energy Bills Could Hit More Than £2bn

NHS England could see its energy bills rise from £600m to over £2bn this year, the climate change committee has warned, as it calls on the government to do more to tackle the crisis.

- Saphora Smith

In a letter to the new prime minister, Lord Deben, chair of the committee, and Sir John Armitt, chair of the National Infrastructure Commission, warn slow progress on improving energy efficiency in the public sector estate has meant it faces extraordinary bills this winter.

In order to achieve energy security and reduce the UK's vulnerability to volatile fossil fuel prices, the independent government advisers urged Liz Truss's government to develop "credible" policies to improve energy efficiency in buildings, and to increase and speed up investment to reduce energy use.

They estimate that at least 15 million homes require energy efficiency improvement and advised the new government to ensure all owner-occupied homes reach minimum standards, through improved insulation, double glazing and other measures by 2035. They want the private rented sector to meet the same standard by 2028, and said policies to increase efficiency standards for businesses should be finalised.

Earlier this year, the climate change committee said there was a "shocking gap" in policy for better-insulated homes, and despite government programmes in 2012 supporting the installation of more than 2.3 million insulation measures a year, last year only 93,500 improvements were made.