Energy efficiency: Who pays and who benefits? > Publication :: IPPR

ECO is a new programme that aims to improve the energy efficiency of homes in Great Britain. Only a limited number of people will be able to benefit from ECO but the cost of the policy will be borne by all energy bill-payers. This report assesses what those costs might be and how the benefits and costs will be distributed.

Coming into force on 1 January 2013, ECO is a programme that will cost suppliers an estimated £13 billion a year. In what marks a radical change from previous supplier obligations, ECO will oblige suppliers to deliver high-cost energy efficiency improvements and improve households that are fuel-poor. Households that are not eligible for support through ECO will have the option of installing measures at no up-front cost through the Green Deal. Unlike the policies it replaces, it explicitly aims to address both carbon emissions and fuel poverty.

If government estimates are accurate then the cost of ECO will replace, roughly pound-for-pound, the costs created by the current policies, worth about £50 a year in the average annual household energy bill. However, analysis of previous policies suggests that the government's estimates could be much too low or too high, which means the cost to consumers could dip to £20 or soar to £116 a year.

See full Article: http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/10051/energy-efficiency-who-pays-and-who-benefits