My Lords, I agree with the noble Baroness that this has been an excellent debate. Everybody has spoken with great passion. Each and every one of us shares a common approach to making sure that we deal with energy efficiency in the round, not just for people in fuel poverty but as a commitment from our country to our carbon targets. Before I respond to the amendment moved by the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, I shall put on record for my noble friend Lord Deben and the noble Baroness that some of us are not playing with boys’ toys and are not interested in them but have spent a lifetime making sure that the subject that we are so passionate about is properly addressed. For those who like wearing helmets, good luck to them. I am just not one of them.
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I turn to the amendment of the noble Lord, Lord Whitty. I thank him for raising this important matter of including energy efficiency measures within the national infrastructure plan and other infrastructure strategies. He highlights energy efficiency proposals, which must be compatible with our carbon budgets, alleviate fuel poverty and be considered alongside all proposals for generating or extracting energy. I should like to reassure noble Lords that energy efficiency is a top priority for the Government and that the proposed requirements are already being fulfilled.
The national infrastructure plan already highlights increased energy efficiency as a key element of the Government’s infrastructure strategy. It identifies,
“helping households and businesses take control of their energy bills and keep their costs down”,
as one of Government’s three priorities in delivering energy policies. The 2013 plan explicitly focuses on energy efficiency and commits the Government to explore the opportunities to build on the progress being made by the implementation of the EU energy efficiency directive and highlights the rollout of smart meters as one of the Government’s top 40 priority investments. I head the smart meter programme and I am very focused on how it is rolled out to ensure that individuals are able to take greater control of how energy is being used. As stated in the plan, the smart meter rollout is a key element of the Government’s strategy to increase the very thing that we all want, and to be able to manage the demand side.
I hope that the Government’s commitment to the Green Deal will further reassure your Lordships that energy efficiency will remain a top priority. The Green Deal is an ambitious and long-term initiative designed to drive investment in the energy efficiency of Britain’s homes. The Government have now committed £450 million over the next three years for energy efficiency incentives through the Green Deal.
In relation to Amendment 94A, the Government are already required under the Climate Change Act to prepare proposals and policies to meet carbon budgets, and to report on these proposals and policies to Parliament. Most recently, the Government met this requirement by publishing the Carbon Plan in 2011. Energy efficiency will of course be a key part of this. However, the Carbon Plan also highlights that if we are to meet our 2050 targets cost effectively, we need to remain technology-neutral and do so with a combination of supply and demand-side measures.
As the noble Lord, Lord Whitty, rightly recognises, energy efficiency will have a key role to play in addressing fuel poverty. That is why today the Government have laid draft regulations before Parliament to put in place a new fuel poverty objective. Once agreed, the regulations will create in law a new fuel poverty target of ensuring that as many fuel-poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency standard of band C by 2030.
I hope noble Lords will agree that this is a target with a high level of ambition. It will mean support for significant numbers of fuel-poor homes so that they can enjoy higher energy efficiency standards. Alongside
this, we have published a consultation to help us prepare a new fuel poverty strategy, which will set out how the Government will seek to meet the target.
Our energy efficiency strategy, published in 2012, sets out the Government’s commitment to realising the remaining energy efficiency potential within the UK economy. I agree with my noble friend Lord Teverson that there is huge potential to build on what is already in place. We must not underestimate our desires across the House, from all political parties, to ensure that we meet those goals. We estimate that through socially cost-effective investment in energy efficiency we could save around 196 terawatt hours in 2020, which is equivalent to 22 power stations.
The Government through the Green Deal has awarded £88 million in funding for local authorities to promote the Green Deal, and £450 million has been committed to incentivise the Green Deal uptake. I say that in response to my noble friend Lord Jenkin. The Government are doing a lot of work in trying to meet energy efficiency and reducing demand. I hope that, given the measures that we are taking forward, the noble Lords, Lord Whitty and Lord Judd, whose names are on the amendments, feel reassured that the requirements for which they ask are already being fulfilled. Therefore, further legislation is really not needed.