Local initiatives to reduce energy consumption; examples from the UK's HECAction programme

Panel: Panel 1: Policy (incentives, normative measures, policy mixes to achive CO_2 reduction)

Authors:
Emma Jones, Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE)
Victoria Wiltshire, Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE)
Joanne Wade, Association for the Conservation of Energy (ACE)

Abstract

The UK’s Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) requires local authorities to draw up strategies to increase residential energy efficiency in their area by 30% in the next 10 to 15 years, with the objective of both reducing CO2 emissions and alleviating fuel poverty. This paper is based on a review of the ‘HECAction programme’, under which local authorities bid for government funded awards to implement schemes linked to HECA.

HECA utilises local authorities’ unique ability to influence the energy decisions of public and private sector householders, which results from their role as providers of both social housing and general services. The HECAction programme is now in its third year and has funded more than 100 schemes.

The paper presents results from a review of the programme, conducted in the second half of 1998. It identifies the opportunities and constraints facing local authorities in implementing HECA, and the types of scheme that have been particularly successful under HECAction. These include bulk purchase schemes (whereby local authorities pass on bulk discount prices on energy efficient goods to local people), low interest loan schemes (to help overcome the financial barrier to purchasing energy efficient goods) and schemes to train and employ previously unemployed people in the installation of insulation.

This paper discusses issues raised from the review, including the types of scheme implemented under HECAction, the effectiveness of these kinds of schemes, and ways in which the implementation of HECA can be facilitated. It suggests that HECA could provide a template for international action and that the HECAction approach to levering private sector funding should prove attractive to many governments.