Lower mortgages for U.K. homeowners who embrace EE

Smacked by twin energy and economic crises, U.K. legislators have identified energy efficiency as a key tool to fighting slipping standards of living in the isles. Their most recent effort to incentivize energy conservation involves rewarding compliant homes with cheaper mortgages. Here’s how the pilot is summed up in an article at Renewable Energy Magazine: 

“Homeowners who make their properties more energy efficient could see their mortgage rate cut under a new government-backed pilot in which Perenna Bank will receive more than £193,000 in government funding to help develop their long-term, fixed-rate mortgage that will incentivise customers to make their homes more energy efficient by offering to reduce their mortgage rate.”

If that’s not reason enough for British homeowners to update their houses, data released earlier this year showed that energy efficient homes in Britain were holding their value much better than wasteful counterparts. 

It’s too early to celebrate, however. Recent history shows that the U.K. often talks a big talk without walking the walk. According to an article last year in the Guardian, only about two-thirds of the 6.6 billion pounds allocated for insulation and heat pumps in 2019 has been used. 

The article framed the shortcoming as a consequence of bad government planning, quoting a Juliet Phillips, a senior policy adviser at the E3G thinktank: 

Three years ago, the green homes grant was announced to fanfare, but the scheme, described as “botched” by a parliamentary committee, was abandoned within six months of its start. This followed similar abortive schemes over the past decade and more. This has made the housing industry reluctant to invest in training people to insulate homes and install heat pumps.

“Years of boom-bust policymaking has left industry decimated,” Phillips said. “There is a need for long-term certainty to build back the confidence needed to plan and invest in skills and supply chains.”

Perhaps, however, the problems that have plagued the U.K. 's EE efforts to this point are just growing pains. Failure often precedes success, afterall. I hope that’s the case here.