Consumer Focus criticises Budget report for cheap energy shortcomings - 23/04/2009
Comparing energy prices may grow more popular as watchdog Consumer Focus has criticised the Budget report for what it says are investment shortcomings in energy efficiency.
Chancellor Alistair Darling announced that an extra £375 million will be spent on energy efficiency throughout the UK within the next two years, while £70 million will be spent on smaller community projects.
Consumer Focus has said the sums mentioned are a massive under-investment, claiming expenditure at least five times higher is needed.
Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, said: "Introducing radical energy efficiency measures would have simultaneously helped lift millions of the poorest customers out of fuel poverty, reduced carbon emissions and created thousands of green jobs."
He added that the cost of meeting new targets designed to tackle climate change could result in nearly two million people being forced into fuel poverty.
The government is looking to apply carbon capture and storage technology to coal-fired power stations to help plug the energy gap until new nuclear reactors come online around 2017.
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