Labour promises new ‘warm home’ grants and energy bill changes to cut costs for millions of households

LABOUR has promised to cut energy bills for millions of households if elected to government.

Sir Kier Starmer has also committed to introducing a new "warm home" grant, which will help households improve their home's energy efficiency.

1

The manifesto states: "The Warm Homes Plan will offer grants and low-interest loans to support investment in insulation and other improvements such as solar panels, batteries and low-carbon heating to cut bills.

"We will partner with combined authorities, local and devolved governments, to roll out this plan.

"Labour will also work with the private sector, including banks and building societies, to provide further private finance to accelerate home upgrades and low carbon heating."

However, the party did not provide any more detail on this policy, and it remains unclear how these grants or low-cost loans will work in practice.

Plus, the Labour Party says that its plans will not force anyone to rip out their boiler.

---

At the Labour manifesto launch, Sir Keir Starmer…

• Ruled out raising income tax, national insurance, or VAT
• Committed to keeping the pensions triple lock, which increases the state pension each year in line with the highest of inflation, earnings or 2.5%
• Promised a benefits shake-up, working with local authorities to get more disabled and sick people back into employment.
• Pledged to remove the ‘discriminatory’ age bands affecting the National Minimum Wage
• Vowed to ban advertising junk food to children along with the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to under-16
• Promised to hike defence spending to 2.5% of GDP
• Promised to slap VAT on private schools to fund 6,500 new teachers
• Pledged to build 1.5million new homes

---

Sir Keir Starmer has also announced a commitment to working with Ofgem to lower standing charges.

The Labour manifesto states: "Labour will ensure a much tougher system of regulation that puts consumers first and attracts the investment needed to cut bills.

"Too much of the burden of the bill is on standing charges, and we will work with the regulator to reduce them."

The Conservative Party's manifesto also includes a host of new policies to reduce domestic energy bills.

Like the Labour Party, the Tories are committed to reviewing and reforming standing charges to keep them as low as possible.

It's also committed to introducing more efficient local markets for
electricity,

Expert analysis estimates this could save the average household between £20 and £45 a year.

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

Sir Kier has said that under his warm homes plan, households will be able to access free cash grants or low-interest loans to help improve their homes' energy efficiency.

This could be used to fund anything from insulation to the installation of solar panels, batteries and low-carbon heating like heat pumps.

It's intended to help bring down people's bills.

However, the exact savings you'll make will depend on your circumstances and the amount of funding available through the scheme.

The Labour Party has also confirmed that it wants to clamp down on high-standing charges.

This is a fixed daily fee averaging 92p, that's slapped on to your tab just for staying connected to the grid.

It doesn't matter how much energy you use, everyone pays a standing charge at a fixed rate, which varies depending on where you live.

It covers operational costs, including maintaining the network of wires, pipes and cables essential for delivering power to your doorstep, which firms say has become more expensive.

Sir Keir pledged that his party would work to reduce these charges; however, it remains unclear exactly how this will be achieved.