Rising energy bills expose the terrible cost of Britain’s short-term policymaking

If current projections prove accurate, the average household energy bill could rise by a staggering £442 a year, taking annual costs to more than £2,100. At a time when millions of families are already struggling with the cost of living, that is not just another headline. This substantial rise will inevitably mean the difference between heating a home properly and rationing warmth. It is the difference between financial stability and falling into debt.

What makes this situation particularly frustrating is that many within the energy efficiency sector warned against the abrupt closure of the ECO4 and Great British Insulation Scheme earlier this year. At the time the heating industry, backed by fuel poverty charities, warned that removing the country's primary fuel poverty programmes without a fully functioning replacement would leave vulnerable households exposed just as energy prices remained volatile. Unfortunately, that warning has proved correct.

Our business supports a number of local authorities, and we see the human consequences of energy policy decisions every day. Behind every statistic is a family trying to cope with circumstances that are often far beyond their control.

My team regularly encounter vulnerable people who have been left behind by the sudden policy vacuum. We recently helped a terminally ill man whose family had endured more than a year without heating or hot water. They had accumulated around £1,500 in electricity debt simply trying to stay warm using portable heaters. His wife was caring for him as he lived with vascular dementia, heart failure and COPD. For families in circumstances like these, heating is not a luxury. It is an essential part of maintaining health, dignity and quality of life. I don’t think its controversial to say that nobody facing a serious illness should have to worry about whether their home will be warm enough through winter, or whether their comfort during the final stages of their lives should push their loved ones into debt.

The reality is that energy efficiency remains the most effective long-term protection against high energy prices. It’s plain to see that we cannot control global gas markets or geopolitical instability. We can, however, help people use less energy by improving the homes they live in.

That is why the decision to end fuel poverty schemes without a ready-to-deploy replacement was so damaging, and many months later we are still in consultation with the government over what direction support should take. It not only removed support from households, it also destabilised the industry responsible for delivering those improvements.

According to industry figures from The Installation Assurance Authority Group, almost 20,000 retrofit professionals have already lost their jobs since the closure of ECO4 and GBIS, while 209 businesses in the sector have entered administration, with many more are at risk. These are engineers, installers, surveyors and support staff whose skills are essential if government wants to improve energy efficiency, reduce fuel poverty and meet wider environmental objectives. This situation also puts young people’s future at risk, with hundreds of apprentices’ training abandoned part way through their journey to a lifelong career.

Restarting delivery is not as simple as flicking a switch.

Every company that closes takes expertise, infrastructure and capacity out of the market. Every skilled worker who leaves the sector creates a gap that must eventually be filled. If government announces a new large-scale scheme tomorrow, mobilising it will inevitably take longer because so much of the delivery network has already been damaged. That is why there is no time to waste.

The Burnham administration has rightly spoken about reducing the cost of living and supporting working families. Those ambitions are welcome, but words must now be quickly matched by action.

The UK needs a clear, fully funded and rapidly deployable replacement for the schemes that were removed. Vulnerable households need access to insulation, heating upgrades and energy efficiency improvements before another winter of rising costs takes hold. The industry needs certainty so it can invest, recruit and rebuild capacity.

The coming price cap rise should be treated as a warning. Millions of households are facing the prospect of significantly higher bills while more than ten million people are already estimated to be living in fuel poverty.

Government cannot afford to wait another six months because vulnerable people and their families need help now, and the longer action is delayed, the harder and more expensive the solution will become.

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Johnathan McKenna is the CEO of national heating and gas firm Macbrook Gas

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