Jim Shannon – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for Energy and Climate Change

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jim Shannon on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change, what assessment her Department has made of the potential of solar thermal hot water heating to tackle fuel poverty.

Andrea Leadsom

Any measure which reduces the energy costs faced by a fuel poor home will have a beneficial impact on tackling fuel poverty. However, in order to tackle fuel poverty most cost effectively, it is right to focus on measures that can yield the greatest reductions in energy needs at least cost.

For example, low cost insulation is typically more cost effective in improving the energy efficiency of fuel poor homes than other measures, including solar thermal.

That is why Government is committed to insulating 1m homes this Parliament, helping to tackle the root cause of fuel poverty through cost effective policy.