Memorandum by National Energy Action (NEA)
(DHB 06)
NATIONAL ENERGY
ACTION
National Energy Action (NEA) is a national charity
that, for more than twenty years, has campaigned for policies
to secure the eradication of fuel poverty. NEA develops and promotes
energy efficiency services to remedy the heating and insulation
inadequacies of dwellings occupied by low-income households. NEA
works in partnership with central and local government; with fuel
utilities, housing providers and health services; and with consumer
groups and voluntary organisations.
NEA's work includes:
— Research and analysis into the causes
and the extent of fuel poverty and the development of policies
to address the problem.
— Providing advice and guidance to
local authorities, fuel suppliers and installers on best practice
in delivering energy efficiency services to low-income households.
— Developing national qualifications
and managing their implementation to improve standards of practical
work and the quality of energy advice.
— Producing educational resources to
teach young people about the importance of energy efficiency.
— Managing demonstration projects in
urban and rural areas that show innovation in tackling fuel poverty
and bring the wider benefits of energy efficiency to local communities.
THE DRAFT
HOUSING BILL
The comments below represent NEA's initial comments
on issues around the draft Bill. More considered and detailed
comment will be submitted at a later stage. NEA has always taken
the view that the only rational, sustainable and permanent solution
to fuel poverty is through improvement to the energy efficiency
standards of the housing stock. Consequently our interest in the
draft Bill centres on several provisions of the draft legislation,
specifically those with the potential to impact on fuel poverty
and affordable warmth. These are:
— The Housing Health and Safety Rating
System.
— Proposals for licensing houses in
multiple occupation.
— The energy efficiency element of
the Home Information Pack.
THE HOUSING
HEALTH AND
SAFETY RATING
SYSTEM
NEA welcomes the introduction of the Housing
Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS) as a tool for identifying
potential hazards and for making owners and landlords better aware
of these. Recognition that excessive cold and dampness pose serious
health hazards is welcome. NEA believes that the rating system
can, and should, play a significant role in helping to meet the
Government's objective of eradicating fuel poverty in England
by 2016. The rating system will be particularly useful in tackling
fuel poverty in the private rented sector. The sector has some
of the worst general housing energy efficiency standards and the
highest proportion of households in severe fuel poverty. It has
also proven extremely difficult to encourage private sector landlords
to improve the energy efficiency of their properties.
The HHSRS will set a standard for efficient
heating systems, the necessary levels of insulation and adequate
ventilation by ensuring that properties can attain temperatures
which do not present a hazard to the health of the occupants.
If the system is to be effective and assist the Government to
achieve its fuel poverty targets, it should also be a stipulation
that the necessary temperature should be capable of being reached
and maintained affordably ie the occupants are required to spend
no more than 10% of their income to achieve the necessary temperatures.
The rating system also provides local authorities
with potentially a more flexible approach to private sector housing
renewal that the current rather inflexible Housing Fitness Standard.
In addition to enforcement action on properties which pose a significant
threat to the health of the occupants, the rating system will
enable authorities to offer advice and other assistance in less
serious cases.
While supportive of the general approach taken
in the rating system, NEA believes the following issues need further
consideration:
— A methodology should be developed
to assess the ability of the property to reach and maintain temperatures
which will guarantee the health of the occupants at an affordable
cost.
— An additional risk assessment based
on excessive humidity (<50%) should be introduced since this
will indicate the risk of house dust mites, pathogens and allergens.
— The effects of hazards on the occupant's
psychological health should be assessed in all cases—this
should be included within a broader concept of health to include
well-being and comfort.
— A new system for enforcement in local
authority stock must be introduced.
— Local authorities should be encouraged
to implement the rating system in a proactive way.
— The heating requirements for a property
should incorporate whole-house heating, World Health Organisation
temperature regimes and also the ability of the householder to
operate the system.
NEA welcomes the particular emphasis on the
real and potential hazard of cold homes and notes that the risk
from excess cold is the second most frequent problem and, by some
margin, the highest in the severe risk category. We also note
that in the case study chosen to illustrate the hazard of excessive
cold the property is deemed to be defective on the grounds of
inadequate insulation (100mm loft insulation); that the heating
system type (radiant bar heaters) is seriously defective; and
the extent of the heating provision is classed as defective. It
is further noted that the thermal insulation standard is deemed
too low despite the fact that this level of provision is considered
acceptable for compliance with the Thermal Comfort Criteria of
the Decent Homes Standard for social housing for properties with
gas and oil fired heating (albeit the standard is higher where
a property is electrically heated).
As indicated in the case study the HHSRS does,
in this instance, provide for remedial work that would have been
outside the remit of the Fitness Standard. The prescribed remedy
of double glazing and efficient gas central heating would however,
have significant cost implications for private sector landlords
and it would have been useful to consider a range of alternative
packages. This assumes that a landlord will be informed of the
options that will ensure compliance with the HHSRS.
Perhaps the most crucial factor in the effective
operation of the system is the capacity for a local authority
to identify health and safety hazards in dwellings and to enforce
remedial works. The accompanying explanatory notes to the Bill
suggest that there will be limited implications for public service
manpower (sic); this appears to be either wishful thinking, or
the wish to reassure local authorities that there will be few
new financial burdens, or an implicit admission that rigorous
enforcement is not a priority.
If the purpose of introducing the HHSRS is that
it "adapts and extends the powers available to LHAs to tackle
poor housing conditions' then there must be acknowledgement that
this will have implications for fiscal and personnel resources.
There are instances of well-meaning legislation being diminished
by lack of resources eg many local authorities have still not
appointed a full time dedicated Home Energy Conservation Officer
eight years after the Home Energy Conservation Act was passed.
Effective implementation of the rating system
is likely, at the very least, to have significant training implications
for those charged with enforcement. The system will require some
form of energy audit and the ability to advise property owners
on the options for improvement. Neither of these skills are required
to implement the current Housing Fitness Standard.
The key issue in enforcement is the availability
of funding to assist property owners to undertake the necessary
improvements. Experience suggest that the most effective approach
to private sector housing renewal is one involving "carrots",
in the form of grants or other financial assistance and "sticks",
regulations to require the improvements. While the rating system
provides the stick, the absence of sufficient funding could seriously
impair its implementation. Indeed, the absence of sufficient funding
may act as a powerful disincentive to enforce the rating system
for many local authorities.
LICENSING OF
HOUSES IN
MULTIPLE OCCUPATION
The Draft Bill takes forward one of the provisions
of the unsuccessful Private Members Bill, the Home Energy Conservation
Bill 2001, introduced by Dr Des Turner in that year. The Bill
contained clauses that defined "houses in multiple occupation"
(HMOs) and set out the principles of a registration scheme. These
included:
— The property should not be overcrowded.
— The property should meet specific
energy efficiency criteria.
— The property should meet a range
of health and safety criteria covering fire hazards, gas and electricity
safety and access to amenities
The draft legislation assumes that the HHSRS
will provide the main element of protection against cold hazard
in HMOs and that the catch-all provisions of the rating system
will obviate the need for specific energy efficiency criteria
in legislation. NEA believes that consideration should also be
given to the introduction of higher energy efficiency standards
than those implied by the rating system. For example, higher minimum
standards could be specified using the optimum elements of the
Thermal Comfort Criteria of the Decent Homes Standard for social
housing in England and the Welsh Housing Quality Standard for
properties in Wales. Consequently the specification for energy
efficiency in HMOs would feature:
— Controllable central heating.
— Loft insulation (as appropriate)
to a minimum depth of 200mm.
— Cavity wall insulation (as appropriate).
Additional and/or distinct measures will be
required in hard to heat properties—those with solid walls,
off the mains gas network etc. It is important that the social,
economic and environmental implications of energy use be considered
in relevant legislation and it would represent a serious omission
if these factors were not to be built into the Draft Housing Bill.
SELECTIVE LICENSING
OF OTHER
RESIDENTIAL ACCOMMODATION
The same general comments about licensing in
HMOs apply to other residential accommodation.
THE ENERGY
EFFICIENCY ELEMENT
OF THE
HOME INFORMATION
PACK
The introduction of a Home Information Pack
can be seen as an important tool in assessing progress across
a range of Government objectives including domestic energy efficiency
improvement, CO2 reduction and the eradication of fuel poverty
as set out in the Warm Homes and Energy Conservation Act 2000.
In addition this element of the pack will contribute towards compliance
with EU Directive 2002/91/EC and its requirement that energy performance
certificates be available to prospective purchasers. The proposed
content of the energy efficiency element of the home condition
report—information on cost-effective improvements to reduce
fuel costs, increase comfort and reduce overall energy consumption
should represent a useful resource for new occupants of a property
at the point where they will be most prepared to undertake improvement
work. It should also prove an incentive to vendors who see energy
efficiency and energy running costs as a possible factor in achieving
a satisfactory and rapid sale. Finally the report will caution
those prospective purchasers for whom energy costs represent a
disproportionately high element of expenditure against persevering
with purchase of a property with poor energy efficiency standards
and, consequently, high energy costs.
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