After 13 years of Labour, there is still no clear vision on how to deliver domestic energy efficiency let alone a delivery plan. All we have had is dithering, broken promises and waste at taxpayers' expense. 

The three biggest failures have been in 1) engaging homeowners  2) getting consumer facing organisations such as retailers, banks and estate agents to help  3) the lack of joined up thinking which has led to duplicated effort and cost. 

The Home Energy Management Strategy will not work because it is public sector led. Where will Councils get the money from? Do they have the staff, skills and resources needed? Whilst they can improve social housing, can they really do the same in private housing? We all need to work together but Labour has unfairly put the onus on Councils and energy suppliers to deliver. The private sector has to do their fair share. More on this next week.  

Thousands of hard working, people in the energy efficiency industry who know what needs to be done are therefore frustrated by the situation and the results of Labour's failed energy efficiency strategy speak for themselves:   

• 71% consumers are still confused as to where to go for advice and help related to improving energy efficiency. ( source: Energy Savings Trust)
  Only 25% of people agree that climate change is both happening and primarily man made (source: Jonathon Porritt, EcoBuild)
• 59% people still don't know insulation saves them money (source: National Insulation Association)
• 2 out of 3 adults are still unaware that around half a house's heat can be lost through the walls and roof of an uninsulated home (source: National Insulation Association)
• Only 1 in 5 adults know that they could save over £250 per year on their energy bills by adequately insulating their homes (source: National Insulation Association)
• Uptake rates in local authority led domestic energy efficiency schemes are less than 30%
  (source: Energy Savings Trust, London Development Authority and others)
• Most of the UK's 4 million EPC owners have received no or little advice.
• Still, no mechanism exists to contact homeowners after purchasing EPCs to see if they would like help and advice on implementing recommended measures.
• Still no mechanism exists to record which homes have been improved. 
• Still buyers/tenants cannot compare EPC ratings of homes they are thinking of buying or renting.
• Homeowners and the home selling, buying and renting supply chain alienated by Energy Savings Trust's call to ban the sale or rent of homes with F/G EPC ratings from 2015. (source: Estate Agency News, British Property Federation and others) 
• CERT obligations on energy companies have resulted in higher fuel prices for everyone.  Effectively a system has been created by which low income households living in rented accommodation subsidise the improvement of an asset owned by a wealthier household. The majority of consumers don't' realise this and it is inequitable and unsustainable.
• Most landlords still not aware of the Landlord Energy Saving Allowance. (source: Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes and others)
• 13,000 people conned into spending as much as £12,000 to train as Domestic Energy Assessors or Home Inspectors by false government promises on career opportunities.
• Home Energy Advisers now being recruited with poor sales and communication skills instead of skilled Domestic Energy Assessors  
• Most councils will still not provide planning permission for external solid wall insulation or solar panels on Victorian property.
• Most homeowners have been turned off by adverts telling them to travel less, turn down the thermostat, bath less, eat less meat and by jargon they cannot relate to such as "Act on CO2" and "save X  tonnes of carbon". Scaremongering tactics used by Government in nursery rhymes adverts have been banned by the Advertising Standards Authority.
• 5 out of 6 business managers are still doing nothing about climate change (source: Chartered Management Institute) 
• Very few businesses have established programmes to encourage customers and employees to improve energy efficiency.   
• less than 200 of the UK's 2 million businesses are members of Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes, despite membership being free. (source: Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes)
• There is a lack of confidence within local authorities in their ability to deliver emissions reductions that could develop into a major barrier to progress. (source: Impetus Consulting).
•  Only 100 of 150 Local Authorities have adopted NI 186 - in London, only 18 out of 33 boroughs. (source: Impetus Consulting).
• Most Local Authorities only have an interest in improving social housing, not private housing despite the latter being responsible for 80% carbon emissions (source: London Development Authority workshop and others)
• Most Local Authorities are frustrated that Government will only allow Energy Savings Trust statutory access to EPC records.
• The Parliamentary watchdog has been asked to investigate Government's broken promises and broken laws related to sustainable energy and fuel poverty. (source: Association for Conservation of Energy)
• Only a handful of retailers have established insulation referral schemes e.g. Tesco / M & S.
• Estate agents and conveyancers are not promoting action on EPCs.
• No banks are involved in the PAYS pilots or expressed an interest in participating (source: Energy Savings Trust).
• A 180 million lightbulb scheme was flawed and has resulted in significant wastage at taxpayers expense. (source: DECC and Energy Savings Trust)
• 7 million free water savings devices sent out to consumers at taxpayers' expense. No mechanism exists to monitor if the devices have been installed.
• At current insulation volumes, Government's target to insulate all cavities and lofts by 2015 will not be achieved. Unless urgent action is taken to increase and sustain insulation volumes, the insulation industry could be permanently damaged.
• The stop start of CERT has resulted in insulation firms being unable to plan ahead with certainty and it now needs to be amended to help shore up the loft insulation industry.
• During the summer 2009, many insulation companies were on a 3 day working week due to lack of demand and resorted to sending crews out to canvas and leaflet drop. (source: Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes)
• Over 7 million homes require solid wall insulation. However, only 20,000 are currently being achieved per year. This needs to increase to 200,000 per year but there are insufficient installers trained to do this. (source: National Insulation Association)
• The Decent Homes programme spends money on putting in new bathrooms instead of showers and insulation. (source: LSE conference)
• Government has failed to meet its own targets on reducing fuel poverty (source: Energy and Climate Change Committee) 
• No UK carbon offset programmes for homes, exist. There is no developed and accepted mechanism for accounting for these. 
• Commercial estate agents not obliged by law to ensure that the properties they market have a valid EPC in contrast with the situation with domestic estate agents who are compelled to include an EPC in the Home Information Pack. 
• Widespread non-compliance with EPC legislation exists in the commercial sector. A recent survey by National Energy Services indicates that only around 40% of commercial properties for sale / rent have EPCs.
• Some EPCs are being issued that are not worth the paper they are written on. 'Strewn with schoolboy errors' and 'glaring omissions', according to CLG in a warning to the accreditation schemes that are meant to police the regime. 
• There is still no definition of zero carbon homes.
• New home builders have a problem believing in the demand for zero carbon homes. Most would rather pay fines for not meeting government targets than risk losses on developments for which there may not be a market (Source: Loughborough University's Civil and Building Engineering Department)
• The focus on making each new home carbon neutral may lead to lower-density developments that use more green field space and encourage more car use.
  
   So, what is the solution?  I propose four key steps that need to be taken by the next Government:
• Put responsibility for domestic energy efficiency into the hands of one Government department. Currently, DECC, CLG, BERR, DEFRA and UKTI all have their say and this has resulted in differences of opinion, dithering and no delivery plan. Umpteen changes in policy and ministers responsible for housing and energy / climate change has certainly not helped. 
• Cull the quangos. Under Labour, there has been an era of empire building, mission creep and duplication of work and costs which has resulted in a jamboree for consultants. We have for example, Energy Savings Trust, Carbon Trust, the Sustainable Development Commission, Envirowise, Countryside Agency, Housing and Communities Agency, Natural England, English Nature, Energy Efficiency Partnership for Homes and Zero Carbon Hub which is partly funded by CLG.  As a result, there has been overlapping research, projects, workshops, consultations and forums all at taxpayers' expense.
• A delivery plan that embraces the private sector to encourage the innovation, diversity and competition needed to drive forward growth in 'green' services; that encourages, unites and inspires energy suppliers, councils, retailers, banks and estate agents etc to work together with a common goal; that includes a national insulation referral programme at it heart to encourage businesses to refer customers and employees to installers and a consumer driven sales and marketing programme devoid of bureaucracy and jargon that educates, inspires and incentivises consumers to take action.
• Openness and transparency on what is spent and by whom.The public don't want to see ever more of their money being spent on ineffective measures to try and cut emissions, particularly in the wake of the Climate Gate scandal.