Homeowners warned about energy spending

26 September 2007

Homeowners spending a large amount of money on improving their property's energy efficiency may never be able to recoup the costs, it was claimed today.

The view was expressed by Nicholas Schoon, editor of environmental policy journal The ENDS Report, who believes fossil fuels are still too cheap to encourage people to act to cut their energy usage significantly.

As a result, "a really amazingly energy-efficient house might never pay itself off" unless fuel prices are adjusted to more accurately reflect the damage energy usage does to the climate, he explained.

However, Mr Schoon still thinks that energy-saving measures with low set-up costs could be worthwhile.

"For small energy savings, where you don't need very much building work to be carried out, it'd probably pay off in a couple of years," he said.

Switching to low-energy light bulbs and fitting loft and cavity wall insulation are among the cost-effective measures recommended by the Energy Saving Trust.