A cross-party group of MPs, alongside environmental groups and fuel poverty charities, have penned an open letter to the government asking for stronger legislation about the environmental standards of new build homes.
The letter, addressed to housing minister Matthew Pennycook, has been cosigned by 33 parliamentarians from the Liberal Democrat, Conservative, Labour and Green parties, including Green Party co-leaders Carla Deyner and Adrian Ramsey, as well as organisations and charities including Solar Energy UK, the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, and the Energy Saving Trust.
The signatories are calling on the government to ensure that the Future Homes Standard (FHS) ensures that new build homes will have low carbon technologies installed as standard.
The signatories are asking the housing minister to mandate that all newly built homes in the UK be fitted with a “meaningful array” of solar panels, as well as the current promise of a mandate for heat pumps or low-carbon heat networks.
When the FHS was proposed, the then-Conservative government chose not to mandate the installation of solar panels on new build homes. With a new government installed, the letter’s signatories now argue it is time for Labour to correct the mistakes of their predecessors.
A recent report from the MCS Foundation noted that the average household living in a typical semi-detached new build home would save an average of £1,342 a year on their energy bills if the government mandates solar panels, heat pumps and battery storage for all new homes.
David Cowdrey, acting chief executive of The MCS Foundation, said: “Mandating developers to put solar panels and heat pumps in all new build homes will not only save households thousands of pounds, it will also massively boost the domestic renewables workforce, at no cost to the Treasury.
“Years of delay and uncertainty have held back the shift to clean energy and heating. We should not be building homes next year and the year after that will have to be retrofitted in ten years’ time, and so the government must now introduce the long-awaited Future Homes Standard, with a mandate for renewable technology, without delay.”
Gemma Grimes, director of policy and delivery at trade association Solar Energy UK, added: “Requiring newbuild homes to have solar, heat pumps and battery storage would be a welcome triple whammy in the fight against high energy bills. Doing so would also improve national energy security and boost economic growth. Although we have every expectation that solar and heat pumps will be mandated, The MCS Foundation is right to demand that the new Labour government urgently reconsiders excluding batteries from the Future Homes Standard.”
New build homes and energy efficiency
The government has promised to build 1.5 million new homes by the year 2029, and ensuring that these have the highest levels of energy efficiency is a top priority.
In the private sector, energy and construction firms are making ambitious plans for new housing developments. Last month, it was announced that the UK’s largest electricity supplier Octopus Energy had partnered with housebuilder Thakeham to deliver “Zero Bills” homes in West Sussex. These homes will be fitted with solar panels, battery storage systems, and heat pumps, optimised through Octopus’s Kraken platform. Octopus Energy and Thakeham will work together to deliver 1,350 of these homes.
This announcement came just days after Octopus Energy announced they would deliver 100,000 “Zero Bills” homes by 2030.
