You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Labour pledges to fit solar panels to a million social homes
The next Labour government will fit solar panels to a million social homes as part of a new Decent Homes Programme, Jeremy Corbyn announced today.
Along with shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey, the Labour leader unveiled plans to fit 1.75 million homes in total with electricity-generating solar panels.
Labour says this will provide social tenants with free energy, saving them, according to Labour, an average of £117 a year on their bills, which could rise to £270 for retired households.
Electricity that is generated by the panels but not used by social tenants will be used by the National Grid, which Labour plans to take into public ownership, raising, Labour said, another £66m a year for local authorities.
READ MORE
From next year new builds will require energy-saving technology. What do landlords need to consider?
Labour’s Housing Green Paper, Housing for the Many, published last April, set out its plans to embark on ‘Decent Homes 2’, a plan to improve fire safety in the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire.
The solar panels will be part of this and its wider retrofit programmes. Labour estimates that it will cost £2.14bn over five years and will be paid for out of its National Transformation Fund.
In July last year, the government scrapped subsidies for the installation of solar panels, meaning social landlords missed out on further funding.
As well as the million social homes, Labour plans to provide interest-free loans and grants and make changes to regulations to enable the installation of solar panels on another 750,000 homes. This is estimated to cost £350m over 15 years.
Mr Corbyn said: “In this country, too often people are made to feel like the cost of saving the planet falls on them. Too many think of green measures as just another way for companies or the government to get money out of them, while the rich fly about in private jets and heat their empty mansions.
“Labour’s approach is different. Our green industrial revolution will benefit working-class people with cheaper energy bills, more rewarding well-paid jobs, and new industries to revive the parts of our country that have been held back for far too long.
“By focusing on low-income households, we will reduce fuel poverty and increase support for renewable energy. Social justice and climate justice as one. Environmental destruction and inequality not only can but must be tackled at the same time.”
