In 2022 a number of councils setting up selective licensing schemes mentioned fuel poverty in private rented sector households when justifying their decision to utilise selective licensing as part of the housing standards regulatory toolkit.

Such references in local authority selective licensing proposals to fuel poverty concerns (Haringey in London is an example) seem to have been backed up in the Environmental Audit Committee's just published report. The committee says that it expects its recommendations to inform the Govt's revised Net Zero Strategy which is required to be published by the end of March 2023.

The report refers to what the committee calls an "energy trilemma" of interlocking challenges, which include affordability, security and climate change, currently faced by the UK. It goes on to point out that, whilst programmes for households such as the Energy Bills Support Scheme provided much needed immediate support to households during the current cost of living crisis, such schemes "will not deliver the energy efficiency measures which will lead to permanently lower energy bills".

Whilst pointing to gaps in the British Energy Security Strategy (published 6 weeks after the invasion of Ukraine) the committee said that though the Strategy acknowledged the first step was to "improve the energy efficiency of buildings, especially homes" the Govt's current fuel poverty target "to ensure as many fuel-poor homes as is reasonably practicable achieve a minimum energy efficiency rating of ban C, by 2030" was "vague and unspecific" and recommended that the new Energy Efficiency Taskforce [be] directed to advise Govt on appropriate interim targets to lift 100% of domestic properties to EPC C by 2035 in order to deliver "a wealth of co-benefits including warmer homes, improved health outcomes and a job-creating boost to local tradespeople".

The committee said that with over 6 million households now in fuel poverty, energy efficiency improvements needed to be ramped up urgently and that it wanted to see 1 million energy efficiency installations per year by 2025 and 2.5 million per year by 2030 and went on to recommend the Govt "launch a national 'war effort' push on energy saving and efficiency. The Government must treat the upgrading of all homes in England at band D or below to band C as a national priority" and criticised the Government for delays on proposals for "Green Mortgage" proposals which it said could "kick start a retrofit revolution" for domestic buildings covered by a mortgage.

The recommendations would, of course, cover many private rented sector properties including a great many in areas designated as subject to selective licensing. Council property condition data from selective licensing areas collected via the licence application process as well as from property compliance inspections could be invaluable in informing Government on energy efficiency and invaluable for both local authorities and private landlords in terms of funding bids and access to new mortgage products.

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