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[holding answer 29 January 2009]: On 11 September 2008, my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister announced the launch of a £l billion package of measures to help families permanently cut their energy bills, known as the Home Energy Saving Programme. This included a 20 per cent. increase in the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) estimated to be worth around £560 million (an obligation on energy suppliers to install energy efficiency measures in households), £350 million for the new Community Energy Saving Programme (CESP), and £90 million of additional Government funding, providing increased funding for the Warm Front Scheme and for Cold Weather Payments.Energy suppliers' targets under CERT are set in terms of household carbon savings rather than spending. Ofgem, the Scheme Administrator, does not collect data on energy supplier spend. Based on the costs of the measures promoted by suppliers we estimate that the overall costs to suppliers of delivering their obligations will exceed £3 billion over the period 2008-11. This includes an additional £560 million suppliers are expected to spend as a result of the increased CERT target announced by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister in September.The CESP consultation was launched on 12 February alongside the Heat and Energy Saving Strategy and CERT consultations.An estimated 5.8 million Cold Weather Payments worth £145 million have been made for Great Britain this winter based on the temperature criterion having been met up to 26 January 2009.From 1 October 2008 to 11 January 2009 the Warm Front Scheme spent approximately £50 million of the extra £74 million added to the budget for 2008-09 and 2009-10, with the residual £24 million allocated to the second of these years.Warm Front does not specifically designate funding for insulation measures, neither does it designate different levels of funding to different qualifying demographics. Pensioners in receipt of qualifying benefits are allocated a grant (either £2,700, or £4,000 where an oil measure is requested) that can be used for a range of energy efficiency measures, which may include insulation. |