The new Secretary of State at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) Ed Miliband, has already announced his priorities – for future fact checking, let’s outline it here:

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• delivering our mission to boost energy independence and cutting bills through clean power by 2030

• taking back control of our energy with Great British Energy

• upgrading Britain’s homes and cutting fuel poverty through our Warm Homes Plan

• standing up for consumers by reforming our energy system

• creating good jobs in Britain’s industrial heartlands, including a just transition for the industries based in the North Sea

• leading on international climate action, based on our domestic achievements

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On fuel poverty alone, the figures make for grim reading. In our West Midlands region, we’re in the unfortunate position of being top of the leader board when it comes to the highest proportion of fuel poor households in England. In Birmingham alone, 105,201 households are designated as fuel poor. The surrounding areas of Worcestershire and Warwickshire aren’t immune either, with fuel poverty rates at 16.5% and 16.2% respectively. What’s more the data, which has a two-year lag is likely to get worse. Behind all those statistics of course are people. We’ve had unprecedented numbers of people from right across the region that we’ve been helping; and the levels of domestic energy debt has now reached a staggering £3.3 billion. Our forthcoming impact report will detail just some of the statistics – but it’s a sobering reminder of the distressing lives that so many of our residents face.

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Our partnership with local authorities from across the region means that we’re also at the forefront of engaging with residents to improve the levels of energy efficiency in homes – most notably the government baked schemes aimed at tackling some of the worst housing stock in the country.

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Again, the West Midlands comes out badly when it comes to the median energy efficiency scores – only Yorkshire & Humber region sit below us in the English league table and frustratingly some 60% of UK homes have an EPC of D or below. So it’s no surprise to read that around 24% of British properties with cavity walls still don’t have cavity wall insulation and of the 7.9 million homes with lofts, 31% have less than 125mm of insulation. Likewise 90% of the 7.7 million homes with solid walls do not have solid wall insulation. The levels of loft and cavity wall insulations fell dramatically in 2013 and have never recovered.

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The challenge for the new government can’t begin quickly enough.

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