HC Deb 17 May 1977 vol 932 c109W
Mr. Geoffrey Johnson Smith

asked the Secretary of State for Energy what has been the cost of the "Save It" campaign; and what estimate he has made of the savings in energy resulting from it.

Dr. John A. Cunningham

From its commencement in January 1975 up to the end of March 1977, £5.9 million was spent on the "Save It" campaign. On the basis of studies by the Department summarised in the report of the Working Party on Energy Elasticities (Energy Paper No. 17, published by HMSO), I estimate that conservation measures, including the effects of energy price increases and the "Save It" campaign, produced savings in 1975 of very approximately 6 per cent. of total primary energy consumption, although this estimate is subject to wide margins of possible error on both sides. It is not possible to isolate the proportion of savings achieved by the "Save It" campaign alone, although I have no doubt that the campaign has played a vital part.