Gordon Brown today unveiled a £1 billion energy-saving package which could help millions of households in Britain to cut gas and electricity bills in the medium to long term.But the Prime Minister ruled out one-off help with bills this winter funded by a windfall tax - a decision which will bring a furious reaction from Labour MPs and union leaders.
They have warned that pensioners and households on low incomes will suffer over the coming winter months.
Mr Brown criticised the energy supply company executive who said that continuing high oil and gas prices would mean “more money for us”, insisting that people would be “aghast” at the “totally inappropriate” comment.
He warned the energy companies contributing an extra £910 million to the energy-efficiency package that they must not try to recoup the money through higher charges to customers.
Mr Brown said that pensioners and poorer households would be able to have free loft and cavity wall insulation, while other households would enjoy discounts of up to 50 per cent.
Emergency cold weather payments to pensioners and to people on low incomes in the event of a prolonged cold spell will go up this winter from £8.50 to £25 a week and there will be a squeeze on tariffs for some people.
There will be no extra increase in the winter fuel allowance for pensions already announced in the March Budget - £50 for all pensioners and £100 for those people who are over 80.
The Prime Minister said that the package struck “the right balance” between the key objectives of keeping prices as low as possible, improving energy efficiency and cutting carbon emissions, while maintaining high levels of investment in future energy supplies.
“Our objective is nothing less than a sea change in energy efficiency and consumption and at the same time help for the most vulnerable families this winter.
“This is the right approach - giving priority to permanent, not just one-off payments for all families, cutting bills every year,” Mr Brown told a London news conference.
By London Editor John Hipwood
34 Comments
This seems to me to be similar to King cantue standing at the sea and commanding it to turn back.
Its a pointless exercise as the majority of people have insulation and double glazing especially council housing in which our council tax has paid for this all to done previously.
It is merely a PR exercie by Gordon brown who does not relize that no matter what he does he is going to carry the can for the housing market, credit crunch etc no matter how unfair that may be to him.
Mr Brown is indeed a pheasnt waiting for the pheasant shooting season to begin whether that be from the Tories or his own party.
Stand down Gordon and let a leader who can ispire our country take over whether that is Millibrand from labour or Cameron from the Tories.
Y Mab Darogan… you’re right!
Totally agree Y Mab Darogan!
Poor old GB, stuck for ideas. So why not pinch one off the Monster Raving Loony Party?
The following is on the MRLP Website and I think it woud be a vote winner! (well i’d vote for it)
Environment
We will channel all the hot air coming from Parliament into a purpose built Wind farm just off the Coast, so that everyone will have free heating in the winter, and electric fans in the summer.
Just go you useless clown!
The New Labour project is dead
Waste Tax Waste Tax just don’t know when to stop.
Nice sense of humour Lucy W ;o
Im so annoyed at this country at the mo, all it is is good at is helping people who dont work for a living, all fair and well helping the elderly and the poorer families but what about the rest of us, were all struggling you know! Those who work for a living get taxed so much and get sod all back. If my tax was lower i could afford to have the heating on and eat well this winter. What is this country coming to.
The self imposed “absolute” borrowing limit of the New Labour Government was 40% of GNP. Over it’s 11 years in power, Labour “borrowings” stand at £43 Billion (with which, together with massive rises in tax, they funded all the profligate spending on public services) and they are now at the point where they can borrow no more if they are to keep to the rules. So, what do they do?, they tear up their own rule book and stand ready to increase borrowings to something in the order of £60 billion, following the lead of Germany and Spain who are both heading for recession and borrowing to buy their way out of the problem.
This £1 Billion energy saving package is “borrowed” money, as is every bit of spending hereafter that has not been budgeted for. As a pensioner, I welcome the measures for cavity insulation because that is something that not many people have and it is no doubt a “warmth retainer” but everyone, I would imagine has “roof insulation”. The cost for all of this should not have been based on “borrowing” but on direct taxes levied on the greedy energy firms.
France has a ceiling on yearly energy price increases, which, if companies exceed it, they are required to pay it back in tax to the Government. That is to much to expect from our lot of course, the old cry of the Tories being in the pockets of big business are wearing a bit thin now, what with privatisation of the public services and letting big business get away with blue murder like these energy price hikes, New Labour stand well and truly indicted for the same thing.
Who was it in Labour who said, “we will tax them until the pips squeak” was it Dennis Healey?, if so. come back Dennis, all is forgiven and tax these energy company until they cry out for mercy. They are taking us for fools.
well you have all had a pop at gordon but no one has suggested what he SHOULD be doing. it is no good giving cash payments, this cannot be targeted at the poor, elderly or disabled and finishes up with money going to millionaires etc
the sensible thing to do is to do what gordon and hilary benn are advocating, cavity wall and loft insulation and lagging pipes and tanks. my mother has just had all this done for free.(£1600 worth). contrary to what mad dragon says the majority of houses do not have this insulation. my mother is now going for a grant for central heating. may i say none of these grants were available before 1997 and certainly wont be if the bunch of spivs and diddy david cameron ever got back in power.
so just lie back stop your moaning and enjoy gentle socialism. well done gordon!!
for those moaning about grants only going to the elderly and those on benefits, you are wrong , benefits are available to the workers as well. just phone 0800 012 512 and you might just learn something.
2 more points. france puts a cap on their energy prices because most of it comes from nuclear energy.
this 970,000,000 pounds for insulation is not coming from excess borrowing but from the big power companies, so therefore the goverment wont have to impose any windfall taxes. it has all been negotiated between our government and the power companies. simple really just gentle socialism at work. 10 more years please gordon with oil down from $147 dollars a barrell to $98 and still falling, you are in clover
and one final thought it is lovely to see gordon smiling
I Thought that all “new” homes now were being built to higher building regulation controls regarding thermal efficiency.
When I built my kitchen extension 25 years ago, it had cavity wall insulation fitted to comply, and ….. when I fitted a new pitched roof on the same extension last year - the ONE thing the building inspector was hot on was the thickenss of the loft insulation. (and it’s VERY thick)
So …. WHY is it all of a sudden “apparent” that so many homes (many of which must be in the “age band” as above) are not seemingly built to this standard?
I also thought that the home infomation pack was going to include an energy rating assessment - so why is it that:
after all this government interference in the way we build homes, and now “inspecting them for thermal efficiency ….. we dont know precisely where this investment is required, REGARDLESS of income, age etc?
A letter to Gordon - Your energy strategy is simply unintelligent rubbish
Dear I’m alright Jack, Gordon,
Don’t you realise Gordon that these energy companies are just businesses, not charities, only interested in one primary thing, profits and as much as they can get their greedy hands on. Therefore Gordon I will tell you now that through ’stealth’ and indirect charging, they will one way or the other get their dirty grubby hands on the £900 million plus you say they will have to pay into your system again at some time in the near future. This must be the most unintelligent decision that you have made and where your hope is ill-founded. Haven’t you heard of Owen-Lloyd of E.On, the one who very recently said ‘…the continued high gas and electricity prices would mean “more money for us”
Wake up Gordon, I thought that you were supposed to be the wisest of the wise chancellors. This appears suddenly a bit of a misdemeanour and where there was absolutely no truth in this rumour whatsoever.
Give us a pound Gordon, I promise that I will give it you back,…err sometime…err I promise, you know that you can trust me.
Why not make it easier?
Rather than pretent that you are doing us a favour, do something that is true and we can all benefit from. Don’t Tax us so much!!!!
Got roof installation, got wall installation and double glazing over 2 years ago, yes the units used in energy did drop, but with the number of increases,and the size of increases we have had, has cancelled out all the saving that were made.
So this package is just like conreting with polyfilla, hopeless task!!
well done gordon, this is a really good plan, long term much better than cash payment,s lets give people a hand up not a hand out, the eneegy efficiency measures help the environment too, so its win, win, a good policy the pro market tories would never have bothered with
Surely he would be better spending that money on storage tanks for gas. We presently export our summer gas excess to Europe becouse we do not have the storage capacity. The Europeans then sell it back to us at a very inflated price in the winter I believe.
Lets be honest most of us have taken the sensible precaution of insulation already!
I don’t have double glazing, only 1 inch of roof insulation but heating bills are nil! Because I live in a caravan and burn wood that I pick up at the side of the road from fly-tips.
I think I deserve a grant for (a) relieving the governments housing shortage, (b) saving the council the cost of clearing up fly-tips, (c) saving the recycling and land fill costs of an old caravan and (d) using eco-friendly wood burning.
But can I get a penny of them? No! Just shows the thanks you get in this world for making a real difference.
What do I get? Persecution by the neighbours and council!
devon salopian seems to think that Gordon is giving something away but the power supply companies have already announced that there is no obligation to fund the operation and that they may well just add it onto our bills so that in fact we have to foot the cost ourselves and the many who already have loft insulation etc will have to pay for it again.
Why do we bother to have a reugulator for the industry when he does nothing [ and how can I go about getting a job there, highly paid and nothing to do]?
The lies, deceit and spin of New Labour and Gordon Brown are still alive and well. Correct me if am wrong but I was given to understand that WITH AFFECT FROM YESTERDAY, (Thursday), pensioners could get free loft and cavity wall insulation as a direct result of the “sea change” in Energy Policy announced by Hilary Benn and Gordon Brown at their Thursday’s lunchtime news conference.
Based on this, I have just phoned my supplier and asked to be given the benefits of free loft and cavity wall insulation and, surprise, surprise, this is what the conversation with the firm went like.
Me:- I would like to put down for this free insulation please, I am your customer and am over 72 year old.
Q:- Yes, but why are you only just asking for it, can you tell me where you heard of it.
Me:- I heard about it on the news yesterday and I thought it had only just become available.
Q.:- No that’s not the case, pensioners have been able to have this free for more than the past twelve months, it’s nothing new. You should have had our letter asking you if you wanted it a year ago . It was not a Government thing it was brought about by the Energy Comanies themselves. The Government are now making announcements to bring it to attention because not enough people are taking it up, it’s all very convenient for them though isn’t it.
………………………………………..
And so, I will be getting this installation free from the Energy Comany - NOT FROM THE GOVERNMENT. I see that John Davies is still smitten with the magic of Gordon Brown as if he is some messiah, sent to save us from the mess that he himself has created. This indicates the downright trickery of this Government, saying that a scheme over twelve months old and thought up by the Energy Companies is their own and put into effect only yesterday to answer the price increases recently announced by the companies. What terrible deceit. But the John Davies’s of this world sees nothing wrong with these sort of tactics.
Just in case anyone doubts the above conversation, phone your own suppliers and see how long this scheme has been in being, I cannot name the Company because the Star won’t publish it.
Doing all this is fine but as far as people living in council or housing trust propertys whether we pay rent or not, will not be allowed insullation help etc as it isnt owned by us!
Energy companies should pay a windfall tax on their excessive profits to fund a MASSIVE injection of funds into free insulation and lagging.
This would be a green tax, which most ordinary people in this country would cheer for.
devon salopian said: “well you have all had a pop at gordon but no one has suggested what he SHOULD be doing.”
Yes have. We suggest hew should resign.
i’m on the dole, so i am glad to hear this, personally though i would rather they would get me some new windows installed, double glazing like because it would add more value to my house, the loft insulation is ok, but you can’t see it, i was hoping they could do me a new bathroom too, i could get a power shower, saves water on having a bath, so thats energy efficient hey, anything you can get out of this tight government is good, they give me hardly any dole and they dont pay my who mortgage or council tax, just 75% of it which is well tight i reckon, still i guess im alright jack, hope everyone else out there’s getting on well with their bills like ?
Huw: If you Tax the Energy Companies more, the shareholders will want a return on their investment and prices will go up to get that return.
Thats the free market.
My suggestion is the Coal Board allows people to dig coal for free from there own garden for their own use.
Watch and learn david cameron, this is proper Green economics, invest now so we all save later, save the planet, help the poor, save us money in a single stroke, St. Gordon, arise, you star!
“so just lie back stop your moaning and enjoy gentle socialism. well done gordon”,
………………
Devon Salopian, do you know the meaning of the word “Socialism”. Let me tell you what it is not, all of which have been applied by Gordon Brown and his stalwarts in NEW (not, not “old”)
Labour.
It is not injecting massive “privatisation” into almost all of our Public Services.
It is not allowing essential private utility firms to make obscene profits at the expence of the consumer without levying a “windfall tax”.
It is not granting a 2p in the £ tax break to middle and upper income earners so that they get a tax refund of £120 and imposing an extra tax of 2p in the £ on the lowest earners so that they lose the same amount.
It is not refusing to tax earners in the higher income brackets, this would have been a real socialists first target.
It is not overseeing an increasing gap between rich and poor and child poverty now at it’s highest since they came to power.
It is not cosying up to big business in a fashion that would make the Tories blush.
It is not refusing to reinstate “trade union/workers rights” after they were curtailed by Maggie Thatcher and rightly so.
It is not restricting the wage increases at below inflation rates for our lowest paid workers.
It is not alienating the Trades Union Congress almost to a man and woman to the extent that most unions are now debating whether to stop subscribing to the Labour party, and, last of all, it is not making such an unholy mess of the economy that all, except the excessively rich are feeling the adverse affects in almost everything that has to be paid for.
I grudgingly grant you this though, it is pure socialism to almost wreck the value of our currency to the extent that the £ Sterling is at it’s lowest against the Euro that it has ever been and against the dollar, it will not be long before it is one to one.
You make your silly comments look even sillier Devon when you don’t know the meaning of some of the words and expressions that you come out with. New Labour lost all pretence of being a socialist party when Bliar got into Downing Street.
roadrunner, if the power companies try to offload this 900 million onto our bills then will be the time for the government to hit them with a 75% windfall tax, then the pips will squeak.
there is no point in resignations when patently this government is doing such a great job. is anyone seriously calling for diddy david cameron and his bunch of spivs to mess it up for us, surely not! as we are all insulated against them
this is the best way to fight climate change too, we dont need renewables, we just need to use less and energy efficiency is the way forward, well done gordon brown
Lucy.
If their profits were not so big, and were being re-invested in cutting energy use, there would be no need for the government to tax them.
But some of their profits are massive, we are not cutting our emissions fast enough and governments should not shy away from getting tough with them.
Regulation should ensure that this is not passed on to the average energy consumer.
he’s a good man our gb, not many politicians really care about us old folk, but he’s good
yes stuart there is a difference between old fashioned socialism and today’s gentle socialism.and again i repeat i am not talking about windfall taxes unless the power companies renege on the deal they have with the government by spending 900 million plus on the elderly, poor and those on benefit. if they were to offload this onto joe public then the government would be right to impose windfall taxes. so stuart lie back and enjoy the fruits of our government, you kow it makes sense, new labour at work. ps is horold peasebody still with us!
Huw: OK, bit my point is that taxing the companies further won’t achieve anything.
I think what you want is re-nationaliseation by the backdoor of regulation?
Devon Salopian, have you heard of the oxymoron, intelligent people and New Labour. Do you defend Brown saying on TV for all to hear that the “sea change” in Energy Policy would take effect from last Thursday and that the insulation of homes would be a Government initiative - WHEN IN FACT IT HAD BEEN IN PLACE OVER 12 MONTHS BEFORE and had been put into place by the Energy Companies.
If yourself and poor Paul Parker can defend this downright deceit, then it say’s more about yourselves than it does about New Labour.
Devon, one of the major planks of “socialism” is the re-distribution of wealth. Can you tell us what this Labour Government have done to achieve that whilst in office because the gap between rich and poor is now at it’s widest level for donkeys years and playing around with deceitful energy policies won’t alter that.
For a former Young Conservative you have a good grasp of socialism, give up and return (if you ever were one, which I doubt) to what will make Britain good again.