Home Energy Conservation Act 1995
- The Home Energy Conservation Act (HECA)
- Twelfth HECA reporting round – report form (PDF version and Word version) and accompanying guidance
- Consultation on the review of the HECA - summary of responses published June 2008
- Reported HECA data - 2007 data published June 2008
- Additional information
- Enquiries
The Home Energy Conservation Act
The Home Energy Conservation Act 1995 (HECA) requires every UK local authority with housing responsibilities - "energy conservation authorities" - to prepare, publish and submit to the Secretary of State an energy conservation report identifying:
HECA has served to focus the attention of local authorities more closely on the energy efficiency of all residential accommodation, and on developing an integrated approach to their housing and energy efficiency strategies. Improvements achieved through HECA will contribute to meeting the UK's Climate Change commitments.
Consultation on the review of HECA
In 2007, Defra undertook a review of HECA, as implemented in England, to assess its continued success in delivering improvements in energy efficiency for the household sector over the past ten years. The Review also considered options for the future of the HECA. On 3 January 2008, a Defra consultation on the future of HECA in England came to an end. The consultation was based on the outcome of the Review. The consultation set out the Government’s preference for the Act to be repealed.
A summary of the 67 responses and the original consultation documents are available here:
The majority of respondents clearly supported the Government’s preference. However, some respondents favoured other options and some supported the Government’s preferred option of repeal contingent on a range of other developments, notably progress on the new local government performance framework.
The Department continues to consider matters in detail. A final decision on the future of HECA will be taken by autumn 2008. The Department will also write to local authorities in the coming months to set out the procedure for providing HECA data to Defra for the year 1 April 2007 to 31 March 2008.
This website will be updated in due course to reflect the final decision.
Reported HECA data
Under HECA data as reported by Energy Conservation Authorities in England in the period 1 April 1996 to 31 March 2006, authorities have reported an overall improvement in domestic energy efficiency of approximately 19.26% as measured against a 1996 baseline (the progress reported to March 2007 will be published shortly). Reported information is available as follows:
Additional Information
Enquiries
If you need further information about HECA that is not covered by these pages, particularly in relation to its application in England, contact us: heca@defra.gsi.gov.uk.
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Page last modified: 28 July 2008