Successive government delays to energy efficiency rules have added £5 billion to energy bills for families in new-build homes.
That’s the view of the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).
After the Zero Carbon Homes standard was scrapped in 2016 – and its successor, the Future Homes Standard – repeatedly delayed, 1.35 million new homes have been built in England with lower insulation, no heat pumps and no solar panels.
This has left occupants with far higher energy costs than they would have faced under tighter rules.
Homes built in 2016 have paid around £6,000 more on energy bills by 2025 compared to what they would have paid under the original Zero Carbon Homes rules.
This includes £1,000 extra on gas, £1,100 from using a gas boiler instead of a heat pump and £3,900 on electricity due to the lack of solar panels.
Even homes built in 2022 – under the slightly improved 2021 Building Regulations – still face more than £2,600 in additional bills due to less insulation and missing low-carbon tech.
Baroness Joanna Penn, Conservative peer and former Treasury and Housing Minister, said: “The Future Homes Standard needs to be implemented without any further delay. The longer the government waits the greater the missed opportunity to build more energy efficient homes – saving customers money on their energy bills. Pioneering housebuilders have shown it can be done – the government now needs to get on with it.”
The Future Homes Standard, now due later this year, would require better insulation and typically mandate heat pumps and solar panels, although housebuilders can use different technologies to comply.
But the government has still not published the technical specification for the rules, and delays to the Home Energy Model – used to check compliance – cast doubt on whether the 2025 deadline will be met.
If not implemented on time, more new homes risk being built to outdated standards, increasing household bills and locking in gas dependency at odds with net zero goals.
Jess Ralston, Energy Analyst at the ECIU, said “Governments giving into house builder lobbying has left Britain with more poor quality homes, more dependent on foreign gas and more exposed to the highly volatile gas markets during the ongoing energy crisis.”
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