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Recovering costs from energy saving
By Jeff Salway
When home information packs (HIPs) launched in August, the Energy Saving Trust said the proposals in the energy performance certificates featured in the packs would save the average household £300 a year, as well as make homes more environmentally friendly.
But it's now been indicated that homeowners acting on all the proposals would have to wait over 200 years before the investment paid off. Research by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that the biggest measure - solar heating - would take 208 years for an average three-bedroom terraced house to break even in terms of bill savings. The lowest payback time was for cavity insulation, at five years, while double glazing and boiler replacement would take 124 years and 38 years respectively to recoup.
With the average length of residence in one house around 16 years, the savings measures work out as a financial loss for more than half of homeowners, says RICS, which called for improved incentives for households. "The Government needs to reduce the level of VAT and provide an attractive grant program to aid real change," explained Jill Craig, head of policy and affairs at RICS.
Meanwhile, a report by the UK Energy Research Centre claims energy savings in UK households are up to 30% lower than previously believed. It says that while bills are cut through the use of more efficient devices, many households spend the savings on extra goods, creating a rebound effect. For example, said Steve Sorrell, author of the report, the savings made in buying a fuel efficient car may encourage the driver to use it more, while more indirectly, those savings might instead be used to pay for other energy consuming goods.
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