Ben Saltmarsh

The price of heating oil has already risen sharply. Expect gas and electricity to be next.

Need to improve protections and ensure priority access for vulnerable households, while wider efforts made to reduce our dependence and make homes much warmer, greener and healthier. In meantime, welcome support to help those in crisis get through today, tomorrow, next week.

*Heating oil* (Wales) Welsh Govt will receive £3.8m from UK Govt from April to support households in Wales dependent on oil for heating and hot water. In a written statement today...

Alongside that, we continue to call on Ofgem/UK Govt for meaningful debt relief *and* reforms that make energy genuinely affordable. One without the other may see families fall straight back into hardship.

Wales should receive a sizeable amount in consequential funding. A key question here - esp. ahead of the Senedd election - is whether that funding will be fully committed to the same mission: to make the homes of those most in need warmer, greener, healthier places to live?

The energy price cap will fall from 1 April. Average bills (paid by Direct Debit) will cost £1,641/yr. A fall is v. welcome. It takes a bit of pressure off. But only *a bit*. Not long ago, av. bills were around £1000/yr. For many families, that now feels like a different era.

EPC reform coming soon, too. Will be interesting to see what new EPC C looks like. And whether any uncertainty in meantime and commitment to grandfathering (so that properties will remain compliant even when EPC changes) will motivate landlords into early action… More to come!

Target of ‘EPC C’ by Oct 2030, subject to valid exemptions and £10k spending cap for landlords. Primary ‘fabric’ metric, plus one of two secondary ‘heat’ or ‘smart’ metrics at landlord’s discretion. Enforcement crucial, as ever. Fines of up to £30k per property, per breach.

A quick, initial summary of the UK Govt’s Warm Homes Plan and some questions it raises for Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿: