According to new research from the House of Commons Library, almost 200,000 homes in London have missed out on lower energy bills, as a result of Boris Johnson's failure to take advantage of three major energy schemes: (1) Carbon Emissions Reduction Target programme, (2) Community Energy Saving Programme and the (3) Warm Front programme.
Nationally, approximately £7 billion has been available from these three schemes during the Tory Mayor's time in office (2008 – 2012). Had London received its fair share based on the number of people living in the capital there should have been approximately £846 million invested in better insulation – and therefore lower energy bills.
House of Commons Library research commissioned by Tessa Jowell (attached) has indicated that London is set to receive just over half of its entitlement (£396 million).
For example, so far 132,000 London homes have benefited from the Carbon Emission Reduction Target (CERT) programme, 4.2% of all homes in the capital. Across the UK, however, 10% of homes benefited from the programme. If the same proportion of homes in London had been treated as in the rest of the country, approximately 182,000 additional London households would be comfortably warm during the current cold snap, without having to worry about the cost of turning up the heating.
Separate figures reveal that Mayor Johnson's own home retrofit programme has failed Londoners even more miserably.
In November 2009, the Conservative Mayor repackaged Ken Livingstone's home insulation programme as 'RE:NEW" and pledged to treat 200,000 homes by May 2012. The latest figures show that by Christmas RENEW had managed to treat only 23,901 homes - and many of these have received only 'easy' measures, rather than full insulation.
The Citizens' Advice Bureau recently reported that nearly half - 45 per cent - of Londoners are worried that they will not be able to pay their next heating and electricity bills. The average cost of keeping a home warm has risen by £311 a year since 2008 when Boris Johnson became Mayor.
Ken Livingstone said:
"The Conservative party is out of touch with the squeeze on living standards.
"A big part of the high cost of living is the high cost of heating your home, yet the Mayor is just not getting London’s fair share of cash available to insulate homes to keep Londoners warm and save them cash.
"This is an open goal and the mayor has missed it. Compared with the rest of the country London is failing to take enough action to cut heating bills. More concerted action from City Hall would mean less people shivering in their own homes this winter.
"I will work around the clock to get the best possible deal for Londoners and cut the cost of living.”
Blog post courtesy of 'Ken for London'
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