Anybody who votes for Siân Berry, Green Party candidate for London Mayor, who wants to give everybody free home insulation.
Er ... Siân, just remind me again, who's going to pay for it?
Not satisfied
21 minutes ago
Tuesday, 1 April 2008
April fool
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4 comments:
Which begs the question: Where do the energy companies get the funds from? Answer is you and me.
Right. The energy companies will contribute "£2.5 bn over a three year period". So that's about £33 per household. How much insulation do you get for £33 nowadays?
Interestingly, typical VAT on domestic energy fuel bills is £40 or £50 per annum. If the government wants to do something about 'fuel poverty', it could also consider getting rid of VAT on domestic energy.
Good points both.
Gregg: this legislation is already active, and the funds are there. Refusing to use them helps no-one.
Mark: I'm not sure I understand your calculation; it suggests 75 million households. There are only 25 million in the whole of the UK, and this policy is for London.
However, your point remains valid - and you're right, you cannot expect to finish the job, insulate every home, within three years. It will take longer than that. But this is due more to capacity than funding - there isn't enough insulation or enough trained fitters to work that fast.
By creating this market, we will also create more skilled manufacturing and installation jobs, and we will alter the skills strategy to make training available. This is in itself one of the major benefits of the scheme, and when we do finally get through all the homes in London, we will leave a legacy of a thriving export industry. In much the same way, Germany created 100,000 renewable energy jobs and became Europe's biggest exporter of solar energy technology.
I couldn't agree more with your last point. The Conservatives' decision to levy VAT on domestic fuel was grossly irresponsible, all the more so because they knew fine well that VAT, once placed on a product, can not legally be removed. One of the few decisions I congratulate the present government on is quickly reducing VAT on domestic fuel to the lowest legally permissable level, but that is still, as you say, a terrible burden on fuel poor households.
Gary, agreed £100 per household, or £33 per household per year - I was trying to compare it to VAT.
VAT is my most hated tax, which is part of the reason I support UKIP - they're the only ones that are trying to do something about it, to wit leave the EU.
And Germany will only be able to export solar stuff as long as other countries are dumb enough to subsidise it.
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