cost of energy

The Housing Forum has now published: ‘Better Procurement for Better Homes Supplementary Guidance’.
This supplementary guide offers advice on how to procure in a hyperinflationary environment
 
The key audience for the new supplementary guidance is local authorities and housing associations who are seeking to procure new homes in the current economic climate.

Inflation is now at a 40 year high of 11.1%, fuelled by rising energy costs and global supply chain difficulties. This has created an extremely tough landscape for procuring construction work, threatening the prospects for new housing development. The Autumn statement offered little by way of help for the housing sector facing rising costs and an uncertain market.

by Helen Näslund, Technical Specification Manager, Evinox Energy Ltd

We are all bracing ourselves for this upcoming winter and are all expecting to feel the pinch of the cost of living crisis. Food prices, interest rates and not least energy costs are soaring. On the news there has been talk of potential energy black outs this winter and there have been articles in papers where councils are saying they might need to turn their communal heating systems off for up to five hours a day to keep costs down, leaving their residents in the cold.

Over the last few months several measures have been put in place to try lessen the blow for the British public, for example the energy price cap not covering communal heating system, what is and can actually be done in
this area?

A new scheme that local authorities can invest their Local Authority Delivery Scheme (LADs) and Home Upgrade Grant Scheme (HUGs) budgets in has received backing from British Gas and So Energy.

The cap on fuel prices will rise in October, increasing the gap between the cost of energy and what people can afford by 9%. This will undoubtedly worsen the issue of inadequately heated homes nationwide.  What can social housing providers do to help their tenants avoid falling into the fuel poverty trap? Joe Bradbury of Housing Association Magazine discusses:

Rising costs
It has now been confirmed that annual energy bills for five million vulnerable households will increase by up to £47 after the UK industry regulator raised the cap on prices for the second time this year on the back of higher wholesale costs.