Pounds Sterling for Pounds Carbon: The U.K. Proposes New Energy Package

Like us, U.K. citizens are feeling the pinch of high energy prices set against an increasingly unstable world market. But their government has proposed a lock-stock-and-two-smoking-barrels energy package that rivals anything put together by their contemporaries across the Atlantic.

Announced in September, this £1 billion (USD $1.76 billion) package would enable households to take advantage of government assistance that could save them over £300 (USD $530) every year on their energy bills. Special attention would be given to lower-income households and the elderly, particularly in the creation of a Community Energy Saving Programme, a kind of door-to-door energy efficiency campaign targeting deprived neighborhoods.

In the proposed legislation, energy companies will be responsible – to the tune of £910 (USD $1.6 billion) – for investing in making homes more energy efficient. This will be in addition to the existing obligation on these companies to spend £2.8 billion (USD $5 billion) over the next three years to help customers save energy. The government is also looking to improve the nation’s housing stock, with the goal of insulating all British homes by the year 2020.

Creating a buzz about energy efficiency is a top priority in this big-budget plan: the communications strategy involves a nationwide, high-profile and comprehensive social marketing campaign through TV, press and online advertising. Citizens would also have access to web and phone-based advice.